Butter Shortbread Cookies

These are some of the easiest biscuits you can bake in your kitchen. Their simplicity makes them wonderful. They are buttery, milky, mildly sweet, crispy, flaky, and melt into your mouth. The secret behind the perfect shortbread cookie is the proportion in which the three ingredients are combined. You need the sugar, butter, and flour in the ratio of 1:2:3.

To start, put the plain flour in a bowl, add cornflour or cornstarch and a pinch of salt to enhance the flavour, give it a good whisk to make sure everything is well mixed, and put it aside. Start making the cookie dough; into a bowl, add the butter, which should be cold to the touch, add fine or granulated sugar, and use a wooden spoon to combine until it is well mixed to form the buttercream.

Once it forms a nice cream sift in your four mixtures, it gradually mixes briefly between each addition using a wooden spoon. The mixture will seem dry and crumbly. Then, transfer it to a working surface and use your clean hands to form the crumbs into a mass of dough. You don’t need to over-mix or over-knead the dough, which can cause gluten formation that can result in a tough cookie.

Squish and squish to get a shape, then roll it into a sheet about 1 cm thick. If the dough sticks to your rolling pin, let it sit and rest for 6 to 10 minutes or until the batter forms. Use the parchment paper while rolling to prevent the batter from sticking. Once it is formed, cut it to any shape you want using a cookie cutter and put it on a baking sheet. Pick it up using your knife or spatula.

Roll out the left and cut them into different shapes, or roll them into a small ball or any other shape that you like. Line them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 325F for 25 to 30 minutes. The shortbread cookies will be slightly soft as they come out of the oven.

Let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes. This gives a delicate cookie a chance to firm up a bit. Then, transfer them onto a cooling rack and let them cool down completely. Once they are cooled down completely, transfer them to a plate and enjoy. The cookies can be served with tea or milk.