Homemade Shortbread

2 cups all-purpose flour, measure with the spoon and level method

1 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into about 16 pieces **see Note 2 below

1/2 cup white granulated sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350ºF (regular bake/not fan assisted), with rack in center of the oven. Line an 8-inch square metal baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an inch or so overhanging the sides to use as handles to remove the cookies later. Set aside.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the all-purpose flour, and sugar. Add the cold butter cubes and mix on low speed for several minutes until the butter is broken down into small, even-sized pieces. The mixture will usually be loose and sandy, but if you grab a bit of it and squeeze it, it should form a clump.

Dump the mixture into your prepared baking pan. Using a kitchen spatula, press the mixture firmly into the pan. Using your hands works just fine too.

Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes or until set, but not with any browning around the edges at all.

Remove from oven (*Leave oven on!) and let stand for ONLY 10 minutes. Using a sharp knife, cut (slowly and carefully), into 16 pieces (1-inch wide x 4-inches long). Using a fork, press fork twice into each of the "sticks", if you like, making sure to press right through the cookie to the bottom of the pan.

Grab a baking sheet. Very carefully, using the parchment overhang as handles, lift the cookies out of the pan on the parchment paper. Set onto baking sheet with parchment paper still underneath. Using a fork, gently slide the cookie sticks apart, so there is a bit of space between each piece.

Return to the 350F oven, BUT IMMEDIATELY TURN THE OVEN OFF!. Let sit on the baking sheet in the still-warm oven for 30-45 minutes.

Remove from oven and transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Unsalted butter will produce the best results and is recommended. The best butter you can find! Salted butter will work, but omit the added salt in the dough.

If by chance your dough has turned out more moist than shown here, it may be due to your butter having more moisture in it. As long as it isn't too moist (sticky), it will be fine. If your dough is sticky, you have likely not added enough flour (perhaps due to how you measured it). I would suggest adding a bit more flour, as needed, until the dough is no longer sticky. Finally, if you dough doesn't clump at all (it's too dry), you have probably added too much flour. Again, it's probably due to how you measured the flour. I always recommend measuring flour using the stir, spoon and level method, for best results. To correct too dry a mixture, add a bit of water, a teaspoon at a time, until the dough clumps, as shown.

If your butter has a lot of moisture (less expensive butter tends to have more water in it), your dough may be more moist than is shown here. The cookies will still be fine, but with a slightly different texture.

For the final cooking period (with the oven off), leave in the oven for 30 minutes for crisp, but still light coloured cookies or 45 minutes for crispier, lightly golden cookies. I personally find about 40 minutes just perfect.

If you like, you can sprinkle a little white sugar on top of your cookies before the final baking.

As these cookies have a very fine texture, they are quite fragile and prone to breaking as you work through making them. If you are just making for yourself, no worries if one or two break, but if making these to gift, consider cutting smaller pieces (1-inch x 2-inch maybe) or even squares, so they will be less likely to break.

If you find your cookie sticks break in the middle, you can often “repair” them before the final cooking by simply pressing the two pieces together well. They will often mend together during the final bake.