Shortbread Cookies | Eggless Sugar Cookies

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Shortbread Cookies | Butter Cookies| Sugar Cookies | Eggless Cookies Recipe

Shortbread Cookies : Delicious melt in the mouth buttery cookies

I love butter biscuits for their simplicity and yumminess. These shortbread cookies are made with just three basic ingredients- butter, sugar and flour. The key is to get the proportions right and to cream the butter-sugar mix until it turns gorgeously light and fluffy. These taste great plain but I decided to dunk a few in melted dark chocolate and lemon frosting.

Oh how much I have missed baking cookies. A bad neck and back had kept me away from baking but my new Kitchen Aid stand mixer sure came to my rescue. So all the creaming and beating was taken care of by this mean machine.

The cookies disappeared in no time. My husband, who is usually not too keen on experimenting with new flavours, loved the lemon glazed ones. I love feedback like these and I am sure your family would love these buttery shortbread cookies just like us.


Shortbread Cookies: Eggfree delicious melt in the mouth butter cookies with just three basic ingredients served topped with lemon glaze and dark chocolate

Recipe

Prep Time            1 hour

Cook Time           15 minutes

Servings               20 cookies

INGREDIENTS

150 gm Castor sugar ( 3/4 cup)

140 gm Unsalted Butter  [soft not melted] A little less than 3/4 cup

200 gm all purpose flour  (1 and 3/4 cup)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsps Flour for dusting

Lemon frosting

3 tbsps icing sugar

1 tbsp lime juice

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Cream the butter and sugar until it turns smooth and pale. You may use your standmixer/ electric handmixer. Or do it manually - Use a large flat plate and use your palm to mix the butter and sugar in a clockwise circular fashion. Increase speed as the butter and sugar start to combine , until the mix turns creamy and smooth. [about 10 minutes]
  2. Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
  3. Add the sifted flour and combine to bring the cookie dough together. Do not knead.
  4. Transfer the cookie dough into a zip lock bag / air tight container and refrigerate for atleast half an hour.
  5. Dust the work platform with flour and place the refrigerated dough . Roll out the dough [a little more than 1/4 inch thick]. Use a little more flour if it feels too buttery /sticky.
  6. Use a cookie cutter/ knife to cut the cookies. Place the shaped cookies on a baking tray lined with parchment.
  7. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
  8. Pre heat the oven for 10 minutes at 180 degrees C.
  9. Bake the cookies in the pre heated oven for 12-15 minutes at 170 degrees C until the edges turn golden.
  10. Remove the tray from the oven after 2-3 minutes .
  11. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack once they start to become firm [after about 5 minutes]
  12. Allow to cool completely before frosting or storing in an airtight container.

For lemon frosting : Mix the icing sugar and lemon juice into a smooth paste. You can drizzle this over the cooled shortbread cookies or dip one end of the cookies in the frosting. Place the frosted cookies on a parchment and refrigerate for 5-10 minutes for the lemon frosting to set. You can similarly decorate the cookies with melted dark chocolate.

RECIPE NOTES

  • Resting the cookie dough and refrigerating it is important for the shortbread to have the right texture and to 'keep its shape'. Since these cookies are buttery, not refrigerating them would make them 'spread out' while baking.
  • Avoid adding too much flour while dusting and rolling out the dough. Also don't roll out the dough too thin.
  • The shortbread cookie dough can be kept refrigerated for about a week to 10 days or frozen for upto a month. To avoid the dough from drying out wrap with cling film or keep it in a zip lock pouch.
  • These cookies can be made with wholewheat flour too. Use a little less flour in this case. The taste and texture will vary but it shall be tasty nevertheless.

Hope you enjoy these.

Happy Baking

Posted originally on SEPTEMBER 13, 2017


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