Future Bakers Shortbread


MAKES

14 biscuits

DURATION

2-3 hours

DIFFICULTY

Easy


• 375g plain flour
• 250g cold butter, diced
• 65g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
• 30g demerara sugar
• 30g soft light brown sugar
• 4g fine sea salt

  1. Preheat your oven to 120°C/ 100°C fan/ gas 1⁄2 (250ºF/ 210ºF fan) and line a baking tray or tin with baking paper.
  2. Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the diced cold butter.
  3. Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs, then add the sugars and salt and continue to mix until a crumbly but smooth paste is reached. You can rest this dough after it’s made, but it’s easier to roll it out straight away.
  4. Roll it out to form a 30cm square about 4mm thick, then cut out shapes using a 6cm round pastry cutter.
  5. Bring the trimmings together and re-roll, then place all the biscuits on your prepared baking tray. Or if making chunky shortbread fingers roll to the size of your tin, the dough should be about 1cm thick.
  6. With a butter knife gently mark out your shortbread fingers. Score the dough down the middle from top to bottom and then across to make the finger shapes.
  7. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  8. With a fork, make rows of little holes in the shortbread. Don’t push the fork all the way through the dough, just lightly across the surface.
  9. Bake in the preheated oven for about 55 minutes, turning the tray round after 30 minutes and trying not to get much colour on the shortbread.
  10. Once out of the oven, sprinkle with caster sugar, cool on the tray for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.