I always wanted a very nice shortbread cookies. The trick of making good shortbread, is not to beat the hell out of the butter with sugar, and of course, use good quality butter, as there are so little ingredients in that cookie itself.
These buttery, sweet cookies, melt in your mouth, with the bite from the fragrant pistachios, and chewiness from the cranberries, what else do you need?
As of most cookies, shortbread cookies are easy and quick to do, but they need some refrigeration till form before baking, else they will just melt in the oven and become a mess.
These buttery, sweet cookies, melt in your mouth, with the bite from the fragrant pistachios, and chewiness from the cranberries, what else do you need?
As of most cookies, shortbread cookies are easy and quick to do, but they need some refrigeration till form before baking, else they will just melt in the oven and become a mess.
First, prepare your pistachios and cranberry. To bring out the flavour of your nuts, toast them in a moderate oven (180°C) for 5-10 minutes. You know when your nuts are done when you can smell them. It's kind of hard to find unsalted ones in normal supermarkets, what you can do is to de-shell those salted pistachios, and rub them with a clean kitchen towel to try removing the salt. Not all the salt will be removed, but at least you did try! And don't worry, you will just have to ignore the salt that will be incorporated later.
I used a wooden spoon to beat my butter for 2 reasons. I do not want to incorporate a lot of air into this butter (not creaming! "Cream" means white.), and.. isn't it great to work out before eating a wonderful cookie? At least you know you aren't taking in those calories and not losing some!
Add in your sugar and beat and add in your vanilla. Well after that, basically, it's sort of just dump everything else in and mix. Sort of..
After that, form a log with your hand. About 5cm in diameter. You don't really have to be perfect in this point. It's kind of hard to be as well. Wrap in cling wrap and chill till slightly more firm and then try reshape it into a log. Chill till firm in the fridge. Meanwhile preheat oven.
My cookie torch! Okay, not funny. LOL. This cookie dough is what I call as slice and bake cookie. Meaning that it can be kept in the fridge for months, and whenever there are guests over, you can slice them up and bake off to enjoy fresh cookies! How convenient is that?
Slice the log into 1-1.5cm thick using a very sharp knife. And you are set to bake! Don't they look gorgeous even before baking? Well mixed cranberries and pistachios! I just love the colour. So perfect as a gift, if you want!
Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food
Ingredients
175g unsalted butter, softened
85g golden caster sugar (can be replaced with white caster sugar)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
225g plain flour
75g pistachios
75g dried cranberries
Directions
1) Beat butter, sugar, salt and vanilla together till combine, with a wooden spoon. Don't have to beat them for long. We want that buttery flavour!
2) Add sifted flour and mix till incorporated. Add in pistachios and cranberries.
3) Form into 2 logs of dough with 5 cm in diameter. Wrap in cling form and chill till firm. This dough can be kept in fridge for a few months. Meanwhile preheat oven to 180°C.
4) Slice the dough into 1cm thick and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges of the cookie start to turn brown. Leave on wire rack to cool completely. These cookies can be kept for up to 2 weeks in an air tight container. Enjoy!
Ingredients
175g unsalted butter, softened
85g golden caster sugar (can be replaced with white caster sugar)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
225g plain flour
75g pistachios
75g dried cranberries
Directions
1) Beat butter, sugar, salt and vanilla together till combine, with a wooden spoon. Don't have to beat them for long. We want that buttery flavour!
2) Add sifted flour and mix till incorporated. Add in pistachios and cranberries.
3) Form into 2 logs of dough with 5 cm in diameter. Wrap in cling form and chill till firm. This dough can be kept in fridge for a few months. Meanwhile preheat oven to 180°C.
4) Slice the dough into 1cm thick and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges of the cookie start to turn brown. Leave on wire rack to cool completely. These cookies can be kept for up to 2 weeks in an air tight container. Enjoy!