Directions
Shortbread biscuits with butter are immortal classics of Italian pastry, these fragrant and tasty biscuits, excellent for breakfast or to combine with a good sweet wine such as a Moscato or a passito di Malvasia.
The recipe for making shortbread is very simple, in reality, it is always shortcrust pastry, but you already guessed it from the name. And, as a basic rule, remember that the quantities of sugar and butter must roughly correspond to the quantity of flour.
The shortcrust pastry should be treated with gloves
Another fundamental step is the processing of the shortcrust pastry, the butter must not be heated, so if you want to speed up the procedure, add a drop of milk: in this way the shortbread will be even more crumbly and tasty.
The important thing is to always leave the pastry to rest for at least 1 hour, after having worked it, otherwise, you will have no problem preparing these delicious shortbread biscuits, it will be a walk.
Ingredients and doses for making shortbread biscuits
For making 3 trays of biscuits, 20 servings (800 grams)
- 400 grams of flour
- 170 grams of powdered sugar
- 200 grams of butter
- 3 eggs
- 100 ml of whole milk
- zest of 1 untreated organic lemon
- 3 cl of rum for flavoring, only if the biscuits are for adults
- 5 drops of vanilla extract
How to make shortbread cookies
Sift the flour and arrange it on a cutting board and form a mound, making a hole in the center. In the crater put the butter cut into cubes, the sugar, the vanilla, the grated lemon zest, and start kneading.
After a minute, add the eggs, one at a time, only when the previous one has been blended into the dough.
At this point, add a drop of milk, finish kneading and give the dough a round shape. Wrap the pastry in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator to rest for an hour.
Turn on the oven and set the temperature to 170, static I recommend.
Take the shortcrust pastry from the refrigerator and start rolling it out with a rolling pin on a well-floured pastry board. If you want, you can cut it into pieces and put it between two sheets of parchment paper to prevent it from sticking.
Well, as the thickness of the shortcrust pastry for shortbreads, consider half a centimeter, no more, these are biscuits, not flaps.
Put a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet and start making cookies, cutting the pastry with a mold in the shape of a flower or animal if you want to make them with your children to entertain them: the first 10 minutes are fun, then when the pastry begins to heat up, anxiety takes over …
Baking shortbread biscuits
Ok, put the shortbread biscuits on the baking sheet, bake, and cook for 17-20 minutes, making sure they don’t burn. This is why it is always better to start from a temperature of 170, especially if you have a fan oven since they are hellishly hot.
Remove from the oven and let the shortbread biscuits cool: mission accomplished!
You can serve these tasty shortbread biscuits with small eggnog, custard, a scoop of ice cream, or dipped in hot chocolate.
Which wine to pair with shortbread?
Choose a lively and fragrant sparkling wine such as Asti sparkling wine if you want a more dynamic combination. But they are also to be tried with sweet vermouth, Port wine, Marsala, Madeira wine, Sherry, Brandy, Cognac, and Calvados.
If you want to combine a cocktail, the White Russian is perfect.
