Professor Butter Beard’s Scottish Shortbreads
35-40 cookies
3 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 ½ Tbsp of your chosen spice (cinnamon, ginger, lavender, etc.)
12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cup confectionary’s sugar
Zest of one large orange (or lemon or 2 limes)
2 tsp vanilla paste
2 Tbsp granulated sugar for dusting before the bake
1) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and chosen spice. Set aside.
2) Place the confectioner’s sugar and orange zest in the bowl of a standing mixer and mix together until the zest is evenly distributed.
3) Add the room temperature butter, breaking the sticks into 1” pieces. Mix at medium speed until the mixture is smooth and silky. Mix in the vanilla paste.
4) Add the dry mix all at once. Mix together at a low speed, just until the mixture forms a dough. Do not overmix.
5) Line one baking sheet with parchment. Using a 1 ½ Tbsp scoop, portion the dough into roughly 35-40 balls. Spread them evenly on the baking sheet, cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of two hours.
6) Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and line three more sheet pans with parchment paper.
7) Choose your favorite cookie press and stick it in the freezer to chill.
8) Place 12 cookie balls onto one of the parchment-lined pan. Dip the press in flour, shake it off and press the ball into a ¼” disc, impressing the design. Continue to press the dozen cookies and then lightly dust them with granulated sugar.
9) Bake one pan at a time on the center rack for 8 minutes, rotate the pan and bake for another 6 minutes until the edges of the cookies are just beginning to brown. While one pan bakes, prepare the next dozen for baking.
10) Cool the cookies on the sheet pan for five minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
