Shortbread

I made shortbread this past weekend as my contribution to a festive vampire-filled afternoon/evening. Making this was definitely a learning experience - I now fully understand the concept that some recipes need to be made a few days in advance for 'peak' tastes. I shall explain.

Mum found this shortbread recipe about 25 years ago in the Victoria Times Columnist. It was sent in by a lady named Margaret Giles of Colwood. I figure that if she had it published in a newspaper, it's a-ok to be up on my blog!

Shortbread
Ingredients:
2/3 cup icing sugar
1/2 pound butter (I feel like I'm channelling Julia Child with this one! "You can never have enough butter!")
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour.

Method:
Cream (whip like crazy) the butter and icing sugar until it is light and fluffy, then slowly add in the flour. I then patted and mushed it into the baking pan, but the recipe calls for you to roll it out to 1/4 inch and then cut into squares. I suppose you could also use cookie cutters here.

With Mum's oven we had to bake it at 350F for 45 minutes. The recipe says 320F for 30 - 35 min, so experiment at your leisure.  It wants it to be lightly browned.

Results:
Well, I baked this about an hour before leaving for my afternoon event and didn't know at the time that shortbread is best served a day or two after it has made. Something about 'settling' and becoming more moist. The general comments from the tasters was that they tasted good but were dry. Some suggested more practice and less flour.  The leftovers, however, were quite good over the next few days, so I think I'll stick with this recipe and just remember to make in advance!