Quick Shortbread Fingers Recipes

BUTTERY 3-INGREDIENT SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in flour. Press dough into an ungreased 9-in. square baking pan. Prick with a fork., Bake until light brown, 30-35 minutes. Cut into squares while warm. Cool completely on a wire rack. If desired, dust with confectioners' sugar.

QUICK MILLIONAIRE SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Line a baking sheet with foil and coat with an even layer of coconut cooking spray. Lay the graham crackers out on the baking sheet in a single layer. Set aside.
• Add the chopped semisweet chocolate to a heatsafe mixing bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Add the coconut oil to the bowl with the chocolate and allow it to melt. Heat, stirring, until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Leave the mixture in the pan, over the water, until ready to use.
• In a separate bowl, add the chopped chocolate candies and candy bars and mix to combine.
• Spoon the dulce de leche into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 15-second increments, stirring in between to make sure it doesn't burn, until slightly softened and more spreadable. The time needed will vary on your microwave--roughly 30 to 90 seconds.
• Scoop the warm dulce de leche onto the graham cracker base and spread it nearly to the edges using an offset spatula.
• Give the melted chocolate and coconut oil mixture a quick stir and pour it over the dulce de leche, spreading it evenly with a clean offset spatula. Working quickly, sprinkle the candies over the top of the dulce de leche.
• Transfer the baking sheet to the fridge and chill, uncovered, until set, about 2 hours. Once chilled, carefully remove from the baking sheet to a cutting board. Using a long serrated knife, cut the slab into 30 roughly 2-inch squares. Smaller is better as they're rich! Serve cold or at room temperature.

SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°. Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Add 3-3/4 cups flour; mix well. Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead for 5 minutes, adding enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. , Roll to 1/2-in. thickness. Cut into 3x1-in. strips. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Prick with fork. Bake until cookies are lightly browned, 20-25 minutes. Cool.

SHORTBREAD "FINGERS"

Steps:

• Cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the flour and salt and work the mixture with your fingers or a pastry blender until all the flour is incorporated. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
• When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough until it's 1/4-inch thick. Using a small knife, cut out finger-sized strips, about 3 inches tall, rounding each finger at the top as shown. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Roll and cut the second half of the dough, and place the baking sheets in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. You can gather together scraps and re-roll them.
• Bake for 15 minutes, until the shortbread is very lightly golden. Do not let the cookies brown. Remove to a wire rack and cool.
• When the cookies are completely cool, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in a heatproof bowl for 1 minutes. The chips may look unmelted, but stir them with a spoon to see if they have actually softened before putting them in for another minute, if necessary.
• Spoon the melted chocolate into a zipper-lock bag. Seal the bag, pressing out any air. Use a toothpick to make a very tiny hole in one corner of the bag to release a thin stream of chocolate for writing. Decorate the fingers by piping a fingernail at the rounded end, and three horizontal lines to mark the joint at mid-finger. Decorate tombstones with crosses and writing as desired. Allow the chocolate to set before stacking the cookies.

SUPER-EASY SHORTBREAD (3 INGREDIENTS)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300°.
• Cream butter and sugar together.
• Add flour and mix till texture is like clay.
• Press dough into ungreased 9 x 13 inch pan, prick all over with a fork, and sprinkle with sugar (tilt pan to cover the top evenly, then shake excess sugar back into the sugar canister).
• Bake for about 40-45 minutes (till very lightly browned--just golden around the edges).
• Let stand for 5 minutes, then cut into 24 squares while warm.
• Leave in pan to cool thoroughly. (Shortbread will not be crisp until cool.).
• Less easy method: Chill dough. Roll into 1-inch balls, then press balls to about 1/4-inch thickness on ungreased cookie sheets with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar (sometimes you can find a glass with a pretty design on the bottom, like a star). Bake at 300° for about 20-25 minutes (until edges are very lightly browned).
• Least easy method: Chill dough. Roll out to about 1/4-inch thickness, sprinkle with sugar, then cut with cookie cutters. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 300° for about 20-25 minutes (until edges are very lightly browned).
• Variation: Add 2 tablespoons dried lavender to the creamed butter and sugar before adding flour. It may sound strange, but the flavor is subtle and elegant. Food-grade lavender is usually available in herb bins at health food stores, and I recently found it at a great price from Atlantic Spice online (their Lavender #1).
• Variation: After cutting shortbread into squares (it will still be warm), scatter 1 cup of chocolate chips over the top, let the chocolate soften completely, then spread as a thin layer and let cool completely before removing from pan. (No need to sprinkle shortbread with sugar before baking if you plan to do this.).
• Variation: Stir 1 cup chocolate chips or butterscotch chips into the dough before pressing into pan. You can also try melting the butterscotch over the top, as above. In England, you'll find "caramel shortbread," which has a layer of caramel and a layer of chocolate on top of the shortbread. It's wonderful (of course!). I've tried various ways of doing this and various kinds of caramel, but it's been a while and I don't remember what works best. It can be tricky not to make a mess!

SHORTBREAD BISCUITS

Steps:

• Heat the oven 170C/150C fan/gas 3. Put the flour, butter and sugar into a mixing bowl. Use your hands to combine the ingredients until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs, then squeeze until it comes together as a dough.
• On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to ½ cm thick. Cut the dough into fingers and place on a lined baking tray. Use a fork to create imprints, then sprinkle with the remaining caster sugar.
• Chill the dough in the fridge for 20 mins, then bake for 15-20 mins until golden brown. Remove the shortbread fingers from the oven and leave to cool on the tray for 10 mins.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE SHORTBREAD FINGERS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment. Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk for about 5 mins until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat again until fully incorporated.
• Sift in the flour, cornflour and baking powder, and fold into the mixture using a spatula until combined (the dough should have a tacky consistency). Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large star-shaped nozzle. If all the mixture doesn't fit, do it in 2 batches.
• Pipe 10cm long, 1.5cm wide fingers onto the baking sheets, making sure there are 3cm spaces between each finger. Bake for 8-10 mins, swapping the trays over halfway through the cooking time, until pale golden and cooked through. Leave to cool on the baking sheets for a few mins, then transfer to wire racks.
• Melt the chocolate separately over a pan of gently simmering water (making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water) or in the microwave in short bursts, stirring every 15 secs or so. Dip 1 end of the shortbread fingers into the bowl of milk chocolate and the other end in the white chocolate. Leave to set on baking parchment before serving.

SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/Gas 5.
• Beat the butter and the sugar together until smooth.
• Stir in the flour to get a smooth paste. Turn on to a work surface and gently roll out until the paste is 1cm/½in thick.
• Cut into shortbread rounds or fingers and place onto a baking tray. Sprinkle with caster sugar and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
• Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until pale golden-brown. Set aside to cool on a wire rack.

TRADITIONAL SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 8x8 or 9x9 inch square baking pan. You can also use a round cake can and cut the shortbread into triangles.
• Place the caster sugar, flour, salt and butter in a food processor and pulse until it's combined and looks like coarse breadcrumbs but is soft and pliable and comes together in a dough when you press it together between your fingers. If it's too dry and crumbly it needs to be pulsed a bit longer. (If using any add-ins, stir them in at this point.)Pour the mixture into the greased baking pan. Use your fingers and hands to firmly press down the mixture. Note: If the mixture is too dry to work with, including pricking with a fork (see below), then it was not pulsed long enough in the food processor. Optional: Prick the shortbread with the tines of a fork, creating rows. Some people also like run a knife between each row of fork tines to make cutting the shortbread easier after it's baked. You can also prick the shortbread with a fork immediately after it is done baking while it is still warm; the holes will be more pronounced this way as they have a tendency to close during baking.
• Place the shortbread on the middle rack and bake for 30-35 minutes or until light golden and firm. Let cool. Cut and serve.Store the shortbread in an airtight container for up to several weeks. Its flavor and texture improves over time.

BASIC SHORTBREAD FINGERS

Steps:

• Butter an 8 1/2-inch cake or springform pan; set aside. Sift together flour and salt into a small bowl; set aside. Place butter in bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Cream until fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add sugar, and continue to beat until very light in color and fluffy, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, about 2 minutes more. Add vanilla, if using. Add flour mixture, and combine on low speed, scraping with spatula if necessary, until flour is just incorporated and dough sticks together when squeezed with fingers.
• Pat dough into prepared pan. If rolling out dough to cut into shapes, form into a flat disk; wrap in plastic. Chill until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Roll dough to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 1-by-3-inch rectangles. Score with a knife; chill. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Bake until firm and just starting to color, 20 to 25 minutes.

QUICK SHORTBREAD FINGERS

Steps:

• Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl.
• Knead together well with fingertips (you can also mix this well in a blender)until you form a smooth, firm ball.
• Turn out onto a lightly floured board and divide into two portions.
• Roll out and trim into two oblongs, about 8 x 2.5 inches.
• Place on baking tray covered with grease-proof paper and prick with a fork.
• Bake in a moderate oven for 30-35 minutes (about 180).
• Once baked, cut into fingers whilst still warm and allow to cool on baking tin.
• Sprinkle with the rest of the sugar and seal in an airtight tin.