Vanilla Shortbread

Saying this is a cookie is almost an insult. This is pure luxury. A single piece of vanilla shortbread takes a simple cup of tea and elevates it to a proper tea time. We choose best ingredients, so this is something special, reserved for special occasions or special people. I’m sure you’ll like it.

Yes, it’s another shortbread recipe, but I’ve decided it’s worth another post as I’ve changed up the process a little bit. Instead of making a “traditional” dough and rolling it out relatively thin, this version simply takes the crumbly dough and presses it into a baking tray. Very easy, less dough handling (which I hate) and no rolling pin needed.

As mentioned above, this is all about outstanding ingredients. Hunt for best ingredients. Be generous with the vanilla and try to find a specialty variant like Pompona. I was lazy and just added the pulp to the dough before kneading in the food processor, which resulted in a somewhat uneven vanilla distribution, which you can see in the picture (small dark brown dots). I don’t mind this, I think it makes it more interesting, but if you want a “prettier” result, combine a little sugar with the vanilla pulp and then add it to the other ingredients.

Ingredients

• 250g butter
• 400g plain flour
• 60g sugar plus some for dusting
• a very generous pinch of salt
• 1 large vanilla pod (or two small pods – more is better in this case)

Instructions

1. Set your oven to 170°C.
2. Cut the cold butter into small cubes and add to a large bowl, together with the sugar and the flour.
3. Carefully cut the vanilla pod in half lengthwise. Using a knife scrape the vanilla pulp out of the pod and add, together with the salt to the bowl.
4. Mix together in a food processor using a kneading attachment (or use your hands) until the dough resembles breadcrumbs.
5. Crunch some parchment paper together, pull it straight again and use it to line a 21 x 22cm baking tray. Add the crumbly shortbread dough and compress into the tray using a flat spatula (or your hands).
6. Dust with some more sugar and score with a knife (this makes it easier to portion after baking).
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until slightly golden.
8. Let cool down in the tray and, if necessary, score again with a knife.
9. When completely cooled down, remove from the baking tray, break into portions and enjoy.

Macros

I’ve divided the shortbread into 21 chunky “fingers”, each having the following delicious macros:

• 166kcal
• 2g protein
• 17g carbs
• 10g fat

Store the shortbread in an air tight container. This way it will stay good several weeks (but I usually finish them way earlier 😛 ).