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Hello Daring Bakers!
WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE: My iconic 5 Ingredient Irish Shortbread Cookies Recipe is a dream. My easy, principally hands-off recipe comes collectively in simply 20 minutes, and also you’ll be rewarded with unbelievably buttery, completely tender treats.
- Easy substances, spectacular taste: Butter, completely accented by vanilla, is the star of this recipe.
- No-fuss: You should utilize a mixer, however actually, you solely want a bowl and a wood spoon.
- Miles higher than store-bought: Should you’ve solely had packaged shortbread, you don’t know what you’re lacking!
- Artisan look: Professional-tip from somebody who’s not into fussy adorning—this cookie stamp is genius!
- Make them your manner! This versatile dough might be formed in many alternative methods.
I used to be fortunate to develop up with such a unbelievable baking custom and with a Mum who’s an unbelievable cook dinner and who made the whole lot from scratch! Irish baking is predicated on easy recipes that spotlight the great taste of healthful, native substances. This 5-Ingredient Irish Shortbread Cookies Recipe—very best for St. Patrick’s Day or to take pleasure in with a day cup of tea—is an ideal instance! You’ll additionally adore Conventional Irish Oat Flapjacks, my Greatest Ever Scones, and Irish Brown Soda Bread.
I’ve been making shortbread since I used to be six, and these biscuits maintain a particular place in my coronary heart. It’s half nostalgia and half pure indulgence, however there’s nothing just like the buttery, melt-in-your-mouth texture of selfmade shortbread. Through the years, I’ve created variations like Chocolate Shortbread, Matcha Shortbread, Ginger Shortbread, and Rose and Cardamom Shortbread, however the core approach stays the identical. My largest tip? Begin with softened butter. It’s important for creaming and helps the dough come collectively easily. If the butter is just too agency, mixing turns into a wrestle. As a child, I made this dough by hand with only a bowl and a wood spoon—proof that fancy gear isn’t mandatory when your substances are good.
Desk of Contents
What are 5 Ingredient Irish Shortbread Cookies?
- 5 Ingredient Irish Shortbread Cookies, conventional cookies well-known for his or her tender texture, are made out of a easy, flavorful, butter-rich dough. After the dough is combined, it’s chilled, rolled, and lower. You possibly can embellish the biscuits with an ornamental stamp, as we do on this recipe.
- Within the U.S. and worldwide, Irish shortbread is very common on St. Patrick’s Day, however in Eire, shortbread is a favourite biscuit loved year-round.
- Shortbread originated in Scotland, however Eire has a centuries-old shortbread custom. Irish shortbread differs as a result of it usually incorporates extra butter, because of Eire’s world-famous dairy merchandise, and is usually baked as rounds or bars.
Key Components and Why
Butter
- A excessive ratio of butter to flour offers this shortbread its signature tenderness.
- Butterfat coats the flour, inhibiting gluten growth to make these cookies irresistibly delicate and never chewy.
- Butter offers the cookies a clear, contemporary dairy style.
- Ensure your butter is at room temperature.
- I like to recommend utilizing Irish butter. Its increased butterfat content material makes it creamier. As a result of Irish cows feed on grass, Irish butter has a wealthy taste and beautiful golden shade.
Granulated sugar
- Granulated sugar provides simply sufficient sweetness with out overpowering the butter taste.
- The sugar and butter type air pockets, which creates tenderness.
- Moreover, granulated sugar provides a little bit of crispiness.
Vanilla extract
- Vanilla provides a creamy, warmly candy word to the shortbread.
- Substitution: You should utilize an equal quantity of Vanilla Bean Paste as an alternative of the extract.
All-purpose flour
- All-purpose flour has a protein content material of 8-11%, so the cookies have construction however might be tender and never chewy.
Salt
- Salt is important to deliver out the flavors and offset the sweetness of the sugar. With out it, the cookies will style one-dimensional.
Make 5 Ingredient Irish Shortbread Cookies
Put together to bake
- Preheat the oven to 325℉ (165℃). Line a big baking tray with parchment paper.
Make and chill the dough
- Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla: Utilizing an electrical mixer (or by hand), cream collectively butter, sugar, and vanilla on excessive velocity till gentle and pale in shade, about 3 minutes.
- Combine dry substances and mix: In a medium bowl, sift collectively the flour and salt, then add to the butter combination. Combine on low velocity till the dough comes collectively.
- Chill dough: Flip the dough onto your floor and form it right into a flat disk. Wrap in cling wrap and chill for a minimal of 60 minutes.
Lower and bake the cookies
- Roll dough: On a floured floor, roll the chilled dough to ¼ inch thick.
- Lower shortbread: Utilizing a 3-inch spherical cutter, lower out as many cookies as doable. Re-roll the scraps of dough.
- Stamp cookies: Place the cookies on the baking tray. Stamp every cookie (if utilizing) and sprinkle with a little bit sugar.
- Bake and funky: Bake for 18 to twenty minutes or till the sides start to brown frivolously. Enable the shortbread to chill fully earlier than having fun with with a cup of tea.
FULL WRITTEN (PRINTABLE) RECIPE BELOW!
Gemma’s Professional Chef Ideas
- Butter is vital: Ensure the butter is softened. If doable, use salted Irish butter. It’s going to make an enormous distinction. Irish dairy is the very best! We have now completely happy cows due to all of the inexperienced grass they take pleasure in.
- No machine wanted: Make dough with a mixer or by hand
- Tender cookie tip: Sifitng is kinda old style. That is how we made the cookies after I was a child, so I keep it up! Plus, it makes the dry substances completely lump-free.
- Irish contact: This cute stamp makes the cookies additional particular.
- Excellent rolling: At all times use a ruler when rolling out your cookie dough.
- Don’t overbake. Bake till the cookies are frivolously brown; they’re not imagined to be darkish brown.
- Avoid wasting for later! This recipe yields about 20 cookies, so you possibly can bake half and freeze the remainder of the dough to bake off at a later date.
Make Forward and Storage Directions
- Make forward suggestions:
- Make dough and refrigerate: Make the dough upfront and preserve it within the fridge for as much as 5 days.
- Make dough and freeze: Shortbread dough freezes splendidly and retains within the freezer for as much as eight weeks.
- retailer leftovers:
- Hold at room temperature: Retailer leftover cookies in an hermetic container at room temperature for as much as 5 days (these biscuits are on the dryer aspect and keep more energizing longer).
- Freeze: For extra prolonged storage, wrap baked cookies effectively and place in a freezer-save container. Freeze for as much as three months.
- Let the cookies thaw at room temperature for 20 minutes, after which heat the cookies at 300°F (150°C) for 5 minutes. Refreshing the cookies for this transient time at low warmth will restore their crispness.
FAQs
Sure, you can also make these Irish Shortbread Cookies with out rolling and chopping. Slice and bake: Form the dough right into a log 1.5 inches in diameter. Wrap it in cling movie, twisting the ends tightly to create a fair log, and chill for at the very least 60 minutes.
Lower the dough log into 1/2-inch slices and place on baking tray.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or till edges start to brown frivolously.
Press dough into an 9×13-inch (23×33 cm) parchment-lined pan. Utilizing a pointy knife, lower the dough into 5 rows, after which lower six columns the wrong way. This may create 30 bars.
Utilizing a skewer, poke holes everywhere in the dough, then sprinkle with a tablespoon of sugar (if desired).
Bake at 325°F (165°C) for about 35-40 minutes, till pale golden brown.
Whereas the cookies are nonetheless scorching, preserve them within the pan and use a skinny, serrated knife to recut the bars. Let cool fully.
Sure, you can also make this shortbread gluten-free. Substitute a 1:1 gluten-free flour (like our Straightforward Almond Flour Baking Combine) for the all-purpose flour.
Notice that gluten-free shortbread might have a special texture (and might be extra crumbly and fragile).
Combine the dough simply till it comes collectively.
Be sure you chill the dough for at the very least 60 minutes. This companies up the butter, which ensures a crumbly texture.
The low (325℉ {165℃}) baking temperature retains the shortbread tender. Regulate your cookies and take them out when the sides start to brown frivolously.
Extra Shortbread Recipes
Strive excellent Irish shortbread with my straightforward 5-ingredient recipe! Buttery, tender, and melt-in-your-mouth—very best for St. Patrick’s Day or any day!
Servings: 0
Components
- 1 ½ cups (12 oz/340 g) butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup (8 oz/225 g) granulated sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 ½ cups (1 lb 1 oz/497 g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Directions
-
Preheat the oven to 325℉ (165℃). Line a big baking tray with parchment paper.
-
Utilizing an electrical mixer (or by hand), cream collectively butter, sugar and vanilla on excessive velocity till gentle and pale in shade, about 3 minutes.
-
In a medium bowl, sift collectively the flour and salt, then add to the butter combination. Combine on low velocity till the dough comes collectively.
-
Flip the dough onto your floor and form right into a flat disk. Wrap in cling wrap and chill for no less than 60 minutes.
-
On a floured floor, roll the chilled dough to ¼ -inch thick.
-
Utilizing a 3-inch spherical cutter, lower out as many cookies as you possibly can. Re-roll the scraps of dough.
-
Place the cookies on the baking tray. Stamp every cookie (if utilizing) and sprinkle with a little bit sugar.
-
Bake for 18 to twenty minutes, or till the sides start to brown frivolously. Enable to chill fully earlier than having fun with with a cup of tea. Retailer leftover cookies in an hermetic container for as much as 5 days.
