Mary's Perfect Shortbread

 

One of my favourite things here in the UK has to be Mary Berry.  I had never heard of her prior to moving over here. I think the only British chef I knew prior to moving here was Paul Rankin. I used to watch a show called Ready Steady Cook. 

It had celebrity chef's on it, hosted by Ainsley Harriot ( another chef, who actually lives in Chester).  The Chefs were Paul Rankin, James Martin, Anthony Worrall Thompson, Phil Vickery, Lesley Water's, Nick Nairn, and a few others. Those are the names I remember.

 

I had actually seen Paul Rankin on PBS tv prior to moving here where he was on an Irish cooking show and I actually got to meet him in person about 12 or 13 years ago when I was on another cooking show here in the UK.  

I had always thought him to be tall, but he's not.  Cute accent though and he thought my soup was gorgeous.  

Mary Berry was not on that show. I first became acquainted with her when I bought her cake baking book, and of course she was in the BBC Good Food magazine quite frequently.  Then of course The Great British Bake Off came along and now the whole world knows her!

 I also got to meet Curtis Stone, Jean Christophe Novelli, Phil Vickery and Jamie Oliver through the years, not all at once.  

I would have loved to meet Mary Berry, but instead I get to cook her recipes. I have never experienced a dud, which I can't say about some of the others! 

I have been going through papers and things and found this recipe for Mary's Perfect Shortbread which I had pulled out of a magazine a while back.  Easy Cook, but it doesn't say which year.

I thought this might be the only chance I have to bake them.  I won't be able to bring anything with me for the most part when I move back to Canada, so I thought to myself better now than never! 

Plus it is a horrible, rainy, wet and miserable day out there.  I thought losing myself in a bit of shortbread was not entirely a bad way to spend part of the day!

 

Shortbread has to be one of the easiest biscuits/cookies to bake, but you can also get it very wrong.  You need to handle the dough gently or you will make it tough.  

You also have to make sure your hands are cool so that you don't melt the fat in the dough.

This means you need to work quickly when you are rubbing the butter into the flour. I always use cold butter, cutting it into bits and dropping it into the flour to rub it in. 

You could also use a pastry blender or a food processor I suppose, but your fingers work really well.  Just work quickly.

 

Pricking it all over with a fork once you have it rolled out and docked/fluted will ensure that any air caught in the pastry/dough will come out. This means that you won't end up with air bubbles in the shortbreads. 

Also chilling it in the refrigerator prior to baking also helps to ensure a crisp finish. You don't need to chill it for long. Ten minutes will do fine.

 

You also want to score it with a sharp knife prior to baking.  This recipe makes 8 wedges. What I do is to score it into quarters and the score each quarter in half. Works a charm.

Do not  cut them all the way through or separate them. I fluted the edge all the way around with my finger tips and also marked it the tines of a fork. I think it came out quite pretty.

 

Some of you will want to know what castor sugar is.  Castor sugar is a kind of granulated sugar which is used for baking here in the UK. I think it is very similar to fruit sugar in North America. 

Our granulated sugar here is much coarser than North American sugar.  Castor sugar is much finer. The reason that it is used for baking is because it melds into doughs and batters much faster.

 

You will find often here in the UK it is just stirred into batters and doughs because it melts so easily.  It gives a smooth finish whereas regular granulated sugar might give a grainy finish, which is not very desirable.

You can easily make your own castor sugar by running you granulated sugar through a food processor to grind it down a bit, or in a spice grinder.  What you don't want is to grind it to a powder!

 

 

Once the shortbreads come out of the oven you will need to score them again, while they are still warm.  This time cut the all the way through to the bottom with a sharp knife. That way they won't break unevenly or crumble apart when it comes time to serve them. 

Again, the perfect finish.  Its little things like this. Handy little tips that make all the difference in the world. Especially when it comes to presentation!

Mary dusts her shortbreads with more castor sugar when it comes out of the oven as well.  Regular granulated sugar would probably just roll off.

The warmth of the shortbreads and the fact that it is finer, means that it adheres much better. It gives it a nice little sparkle that I think is really very pretty, and yet it doesn't feel gritty in the mouth.

 

As you can see these shortbreads have the perfect texture. I would expect nothing less from the Queen of the Great British Bake Off. I tell you, the show is just not the same now she has left it. I really miss her. 

I hope that you will be inspired to want to bake these very classic shortbread biscuits. Mary does give a few  options for varying the flavours as well, some of which sound quite, quite delicious! 

For nutty shortbreads, you can add 1/3 teaspoon of ground cardamom and a couple TBS of chopped pistachio nuts to the flour and cornflour in step one. For citrus shortbreads you can add the finely grated zest of one lemon to the flour mixture.

For chocolate orange, mix in 2 ounces (50g) finely chopped dark chocolate and the zest of one orange to the flour mixture.  For lavender add 1 tsp of culinary dried lavender to th dough. (Don't add more or it will taste like soap.)

 So there you have it Mary's Perfect Shortbreads. You can't go wrong!! (Christmas is coming!!  Perfect for tea parties also!)

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Mary's Perfect Shortbread

Yield: Makes 8 Biscuits

Author: Marie Rayner

prep time: 20 Mincook time: 35 Mintotal time: 55 Min

Ingredients

• 1 cup less 2 TBS (125g) plain flour
• 6 1/2 TBS (60g) cornflour (cornstarch)
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tsp (125g) butter
• 5 TBS (60g) castor sugar, plus more for sprinkling (fine granulated sugar)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*F/ gas mark 3.
2. Sift the cornflour and flour into a bowl.  Rub the butter into the mixture with your fingertips until it resembles fine crumbs.  Stir in the sugar.  Knead gently until it forms a smooth dough. Shape into a round flat disk.
3. Place onto a sheet of baking parchment. Using a rolling pin, roll it out to a disc which is 7 inches in diameter. (18 cm) Gently lift the baking parchment onto a baking sheet. Using your fingers crimp around the edges and prick all over with a fork. Using a sharp knife, score it lightly with a sharp knife into 8 even wedges.
4. Chill until firm.
5. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes until the shortbread is a pale golden colour. Mark the wedges again and dust lightly with more caster sugar.
6. Leave to cool on the baking tray for five minutes, then carefully lift off to cool completely on a wire rack.
7. Cut into wedges to serve.

notes:

Make sure your hands are cool so that you don't melt the fat, or else your shortbread dough will be oily, which you don't want!

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This recipe was adapted from one found in Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook. You cannot beat Mary Berry for sound, good, fail-proof recipes! These shortbreads are excellent! 

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