Short and Sweet: A Shortbread Recipe

The rains here appear to have stopped -- or at least stopped in my basement. I've got to fix that leak before spring! But as I write this, parts of our city are on flood watch and/or evacuation notice.

Rick and I went to Old Town for lunch the other day and to check out the river. If you look at the photo below, see the ramp in the middle of the photo on the center/right, just to the left of a bare tree?? Well, that should be WAY out of water -- it's part of our river trail for walkers and cyclists.

This was sort of a puzzler. A tree with buoys and floats on it. Apparently it has something to do with canoers are a warning but the tree holding it up came out and is floating.

And I wouldn't want to be the people whose basement or ground floor was on this lower level.

I have a feeling they're doing some major clean-up about now.

But the pizza was nice and crisp! A great day to lunch out and check out our city.

Now, for something sweet! A number of you asked about the shortbread recipe I used and the molds.

Here's one of the molds. The are made by Brown Bag Cookie Art and I'm sure there are others. They are a nice stoneware, easy to maintain and clean. I can't tell you how these recipes would work in a vintage mold. I suspect the prep might be a little different but never having used an "original," I'd check another source.

If you don't have a mold you could probably roll/pat this out about a half inch thick, give or take, and use a cookie stamp.

Classic Shortbread

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and use cooking spray in your mold.

Cream 1/2 c. butter (at room temp) and 1/3 cup unsifted powdered sugar.
Add 1/4 t. vanilla
Work in: 1 c. unsifted flour

Press the shortbread into your mold and prick with a fork (which I forgot to do and it was fine). I tend to use my fingertips to gently pull the dough away from the edge just a bit, which I think makes it easier to unmold.

Bake 30-35 minutes or till lightly browned. Cool the shortbread in the pan for 10 minutes. Then loosen up the edges with a knife and turn pan onto a wooden cutting board. Immediately cut into serving pieces while it's still warm.

The Ginger version I also made has the same procedure and timing but slightly different ingredients. And this gets a little browner.

1/2 c. butter and 1/4 c. light brown sugar, mixed
Add 3/4 t. ginger (personally, I didn't think this was enough)
1 c. flour and
1 Tablespoon of cornstarch.

Yum!

Linking up with Let's Keep in Touch at Let's Add Sprinkles