How to make English shortbread cookies at home? TOP 4 recipes with photos. Tips and subtleties of cooking. Video recipes.
English shortbread cookies smell fragrant, crumbly, nice to crumble and melt in your mouth. But in order for it to be really tasty, you need to know some secrets and nuances of making shortbread dough. Then there will be no problems with baking and the products will turn out to be successful. This material presents not only the subtleties of dough preparation, but also the most delicious TOP-4 recipes for English shortbread cookies.
Cooking tips and subtleties
- The whole secret of English shortbread cookies lies in the composition, which includes a large amount of butter with sugar and completely lacks water. Then the products are crumbly, and it will be pleasant to work with the dough itself. It is very flexible, easy to roll and does not break.
- Take flour with an average percentage of gluten or gluten. If there is a lot of gluten, the baked goods will turn out to be dense, and not loose. Accordingly, and vice versa, if it is not enough, the opposite effect will be obtained.
- Thanks to the fat, the shortbread dough turns out to be oily, tender and crumbly. Fats envelop the flour and prevent it from sticking together. Use butter of any fat content as fat (82.5%, 72.5%). With margarine, the taste of the products will be completely different, so it is better not to use it.
- Another important point in the preparation of shortcrust pastry is speed. Therefore, kneading shortcrust pastry should be carried out as quickly as possible, especially if the room is warm. First, mix the ingredients with knives or forks, without touching with your hands so that the butter does not have time to melt, and then do everything quickly with your hands.
- If you feel that the butter is melting, and the dough is not yet ready, put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, wrapped in plastic.
English easter cookies
Traditional English Easter cookies are tasty and full of spice and orange flavor. The cookies are tender and just melt in your mouth. It prepares very quickly, and you can give it any shape.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 489 kcal.
- Servings - 500 g
- Cooking time - 1 hour
Ingredients:
- Butter - 150 g
- Wheat flour - 250 g
- Spices for gingerbread - 1 tsp (ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, pepper mix, cardamom)
- Eggs - 1 pc. for greasing cookies
- Sugar - 100 g
- Water –2 tbsp. for greasing cookies
- Yolk - 1 pc.
- Raisins - 50 g
- Salt - a pinch
- Candied orange peels - 1 tbsp
Making English Easter Cookies:
- Whisk soft butter with sugar until smooth. Add yolk and salt.
- Sift flour and mix with gingerbread spices and butter.
- Rinse the raisins with hot water, dry, grind with flour and add to the dough.
- Finely chop the candied orange peels and add to the dough.
- Knead an elastic dough. At first it may crumble, but under the warmth of the hands it will become obedient.
- Form the dough into a lump and refrigerate for 2 hours to freeze the butter and harden the dough.
- Roll the chilled dough into a sausage and cut it into pieces of the same thickness so that the cookies are round washers. Or roll out the dough into a layer 5-8 mm thick and cut out the cookies with special cutters.
- Put the blanks on a baking sheet.
- Beat the egg and water thoroughly and brush the top of the cookies with the resulting mass using a cooking brush.
- Send the English Easter biscuits to bake in a preheated oven at 180 ° C for 10-12 minutes until light golden brown.
Earl Gray shortbread cookies
Earl Gray Shortbread Cookies are a traditional English delicacy that cooks very quickly and is incredibly tasty. All products are available and the recipe is easy to follow.
Ingredients:
- Softened butter - 120 g
- Flour - 1, 5 tbsp.
- Earl Gray tea finely ground - 1 tablespoon
- Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
- Powdered sugar - 0.5 tsp
- Salt - a pinch
Making Earl Gray Shortbread Biscuits:
- Put soft butter, vanilla in a bowl and beat with a mixer until smooth.
- Add the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
- Add flour, tea leaves, salt and whisk again.
- Grease a baking sheet with oil and transfer the dough into it. Press it with your fingers to get an even layer covering the bottom.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for half an hour.
- Then send the baking sheet to a preheated oven to 170 ° C and bake the products for 20-25 minutes until the edges are golden and the cookies are soft.
- Cut the finished hot biscuits into squares and refrigerate. Cover with icing if desired.
Scotch Shortbread
Shortbreads are very aromatic and tasty. If you want variety, add gingerbread mixture or ginger to the dough.
Ingredients:
- Wheat flour - 220 g
- Corn or rice flour - 30 g
- Powdered sugar - 100 g
- Salted butter - 150 g
- Ground dried lemon zest - 1 tsp
- Salt - a pinch
How to make Scottish Shortbreads:
- Mix butter at room temperature with salt, powdered sugar and whisk into a homogeneous fluffy cream.
- Sift the flour and, together with the lemon zest, add to the butter cream and rub until you get a sandy crumb.
- Put the crumb in a round shape, press down and draw lines with a knife.
- Send the cookies to bake in the oven at 180 ° C for 25 minutes. It shouldn't darken too much.
- Remove the finished cake from the mold and break it along the notched lines.
English raisin biscuits
Incredibly fragrant English biscuits with raisins and rich vanilla flavor for everyday and festive tables. Its structure is a cross between a sandy and oatmeal delicacy.
Ingredients:
- Eggs - 2 pcs.
- Sugar - 1 tbsp.
- Butter - 100 g
- Sour cream - 0.5 tbsp.
- Potato starch - 300 g
- Flour - 2 tbsp.
- Raisins - 1 tbsp.
- Baking powder for dough -1 tsp.
- Vanillin - 0.5 tsp
- Salt - a pinch
Making English Raisin Cookies:
- Beat eggs with a mixer with butter and sugar.
- Add sifted flour starch, salt and vanillin.
- Pour in sour cream and baking powder.
- Knead a soft and elastic dough quickly.
- Wash the raisins, dry them, sprinkle with flour and add to the dough.
- Stir in raisins and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Roll out the cooled dough to a thickness of 0.5-1 cm and cut out small pieces using special molds.
- Put the products on a baking sheet greased with vegetable oil.
- Send the English raisin biscuits to the oven at 150 ° C for 15-20 minutes.
