This recipe is some basic recommandations for making butter based biscuits (aka shortbread, sablés, cookies …). The complexity comes from the presence of butter mostly.
- ⏲️ Prep time: 10 min
- ⏲️ Wait time: 1h
- 🍳 Cook time: 15 min
Ingredients
- Butter
- Flour
- White sugar
- Eggs (optionnal)
Directions
Prepare the dough
- Mix the sugar and eggs until it gets white
- Add the “Pommade” butter and mix thoroughly until the preparation is airy. “pommade” is french for ointment, this is a specific state of butter that is nor liquid nor solid.
- Gradually add the flour
Let it sit
- The dough should not be sticky and made into a ball wrapped in cellophane/film
- Put the dough ball 1h in the fridge (15 minutes in the freezer if you are in a hurry less consistent). The dough needs to be cold when putting in the oven to prevent butter from flowing out and separating from the dough
Cooking the dough
- Heat your oven to 200 °C with the cooking tray
- Quickly shape the dough so it remains cold. Most important is the thickness, the thicker it is the longer it has to cook and the more chances the butter flows out.
- Transfer the baking paper with the uncooked shortbreads on the hot cooking tray
- Let cook for 12 to 15 minutes to your liking, the brown colour means the sugar has caramelized and it is crunchy
- Work is not done, when out of the oven, the shortbreads will fill soft and crumbly, they need 1 or 2 minutes of cooling before being solid enough to handle
- Whenever possible transfer the shortbreads on a grid or “oven shelf” so air flow can circulate Necessary for the texture of the shortbread otherwise moisture will remain inside and will be less crunchy