The Perfect Sandy Shortbread

I acknowledge that this recipe is hardly earth-shattering and you already had a glimpse of the shortbread cookies in the last post.  I actually took the pictures for this post but so this is really more their rightful home.

I also know shortbread and other classic cookies have been done about forty hundred times but I've come across a shortbread cookie secret that has rocked my world.

Doesn't shortbread rock everyone's world?

The quest started after a backpacking trip in the UK where my friend and I spent a lot of time eating our weight in Millionaire's Shortbread Bars.  I found that my favorites always tended to be a lighter bar that was almost sandy in texture rather than than a thick crunchy cookie.

I craved that melt in your mouth texture but every time I made shortbread it was thick and crunchy.  While that's definitely not so bad, I was on a mission and I tried everything from cutting the butter into the flour, using cake flour and adding graham cracker crumbs in place of some of the flour.  Nothing produced that texture I was looking for....until now.

I  found this version in a little cooking booklet I bought in the UK--why it took me so long to read through I cannot say.  And the secret ingredient?...cornstarch.  Before I have the ghosts of a thousand English and Scottish grandmother's haunting me forever, I'll throw out there that I know it's probably not the most traditional and I know that the sexy kilted Lairds of eons past probably weren't grabbing corn starch on their way home each night.

I'm telling you though that the cornstarch made these awesome.  Well actually, the clean pure flavors of butter and vanilla made these awesome, but the cornstarch bumped it up a notch.  The recipe is the same as about a zillion other recipes--I'm just excited that I'm now in the secret society of people who know how to make sandy, melt in your mouth, shortbread.

I used a molded shortbread pan because I could but obviously these can be pressed into any 9x9 square or a 9" circle and cut into wedges.   It's probably better that way so you can cut shortbread into more than 9 ginormous cookies.

I can't help myself.  It's a sickness.  I know it.  In my defense, she really, really likes sitting for the camera.  She sat here for a a good 10 minutes after we were finished, just waiting for me and the camera to come back.  Or rather waiting for me and the treats to come back.  

The Perfect Sandy Shortbread

1 c softened butter, softened
1/2 c powdered sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c flour
1/4 c corn starch

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. 
2. Mix butter, sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and mix well
3. Add flour and corn starch and mi well
4. lightly grease a 9x9 square or 9" round pan
5. Press dough evenly into pan.  If using a shortbread mold, no need to spend a lot of time flattening it perfectly as you'll be flipping it over.  If not, make sure you smooth the dough well and then prick all over with a fork(optional but pretty)
6. Bake  for 25 to 30 minutes, or until edges are golden brown 
7. Cool for 5 minutes and turn onto cutting board.
8. Cut and move to cooling rack and allow to cool fully.