Shortbread with a snap

Question

I would like my shortbread to have more of a "crunch" snap to it; to also allow it to travel and not get damaged.

Is it too obvious to say cook for longer, or do I need to add more flour?
My recipe is as follows: 1034g flour, 924g butter, 462g caster sugar and 264g corn startch. Oven temp 150 for 45min. I am then cutting them into fingers.

Are there any undocumented leaveners in your recipe? – rackandboneman Mar 20 '17 at 09:10 — rackandboneman, Mar 20 '17 at 09:10

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 19 '17 at 22:38

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Your recipe is a bit short of flour for a classic 3:2:1 flour:butter:sugar ratio, counting both the flour and cornstarch with the flour. You have 1298 grams of flour and cornstarch combined, it needs to be closer to 1386. A bit more flour will certainly help, but your method should also be considered. I would recommend cutting the butter in rather than mixing in order to deliver the best crunch.

Last, if you're cutting them into fingers then it sounds like it's pretty thick. I've found it's hard to get thick shortbread to be crunchy without overcooking it, I'd suggest thinner is better.

When baking use the touch test to detect when it's ready, you want to bake it until it firms up some, a few test batches will give you an idea when it's reached the point.

answered Mar 19 '17 at 22:38

GdD

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Thank you for the detailed response, it is really appreciated and will up the quantity of flour aswell as changing the method of mixing. thank you – TD Confectionery Mar 20 '17 at 05:51
When I make shortbread, I like to use half plain flour and half "strong" (00) flour, which gives me a bit more firmness. It's something worth experimenting with. – Mar 20 '17 at 07:49
not sure we get the different types of flour here. am assuming it would be cake flour and all purpose flour. will look into it. thank you – TD Confectionery Mar 21 '17 at 06:42
Strong flour is bread flour @TD – GdD Mar 21 '17 at 07:39
changing the ratio has helped some. will test the bread flour with cake flour. thanks everybody – TD Confectionery Mar 22 '17 at 07:52

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 22 '17 at 14:30

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When making shortbread it is important to keep track of the temperature. Normally one is looking for 'short' pastry which is quite crumbly, and in order to achieve this it is important to have cold butter. If you want them to be harder, it may be as easy as to allow the butter to warm up a bit more.

answered Mar 22 '17 at 14:30

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as it is summer here, room temp is around 20 and have worked with cold butter and then room temp. could try for a warmer temp, but thought that would make the shortbread softer. Perhaps I am creaming the butter and castor sugar for too long. – TD Confectionery Mar 25 '17 at 13:57

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 23 '17 at 17:03

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Snap is unusual in standard shortbread. What gives cookies snap is a high level of sugar, with some butter. Think tuille cookies, they snap perfectly. You only have 35% sugar here, I would say increase that if you are willing to fiddle. Or start with a snappy recipe outright, for example a snickerdoodle recipe.

answered Mar 23 '17 at 17:03

rumtscho

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thank you for the feedback. Not brave enough :) to change the recipe. will look up a snickerdoodle recipe (not familiar with the name). thank you – TD Confectionery Mar 25 '17 at 13:58

Shortbread with a snap

3 Answers3