Shortbread

Having never made shortbread before, and reading the recipe in The Best of Mrs Beeton’s Afternoon Tea didn’t make me any less nervous about tackling the traditional Scottish biscuit. I was shocked by how few ingredients were required too.

I’ve never cooked with semolina either, so I was curious to see how that turned out in a biscuit.

First, I mixed all the dry ingredients together, then, just like making pastry, I rubbed in the butter.

The recipe says to shape into a round when the mixture begins to form a dough. Mine was still lumpy breadcrumbs, rather than a dough. The recipe also suggested I shape the round then move onto an upside down baking tray. I tried this briefly before realising that the mixture was too crumbly to lift, so I just shaped it directly on the greased baking tray, then pricked it all over with a fork.

I think 40minutes may have been a little too long. I’m used to shortbread in the shops being a pale colour, but mine was a little browned (thankfully not burnt.)

The flavour ultimately tasted just like shop bought shortbread. The texture wasn’t too far off. By not over-handling or over-mixing the dough, the biscuits remained crumbly and buttery. However, the semolina gave each mouthful an odd crunchiness. Not bad, but it meant the melt in the mouth buttery flavour was sometimes overshadowed by the unexpected crunchiness.

Shortbread

100g plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

50g semolina (or ground rice, or rice flour)

50g caster sugar

100g butter

Invert a baking sheet, then grease the surface now uppermost. Set the oven to 180C/gas 4.

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture binds together to a dough. Shape into a large round about 1cm thick. Pinch up the edges to decorate. Place on the prepared baking sheet (or shape on the baking sheet like I did) and prick with a fork.

Bake for 40-45min. Cut into wedges while still warm.