It's back to school for Jackson soon and so I have decided to make my granny's amazing (and super easy) shortbread as a treat for his classmates and teachers. I like to make it fun and use food colouring too :)
First get your ingriedients (I usually use stone ground flour but Craig did the shopping for me today 😋
2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour
230 grams quality salted butter , cut into logs and softened at room temperature
1/2 cup (120 grams) caster sugar , or if you don't have any, I put regular sugar in the nutribullet and blitz it.
1/2 teaspoon salt
Food colouring
This is the easiest recipe ever, literally just put the flour, butter, sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl and knead it into buttery, sugary crumble, make sure that it comes together as a dough though when you press it in your hand.
Using your hands, roll it into a ball and then out into a large even log shape - cut into 5 pieces. set those aside.
Now, one at a time - gently work 5-10 drops of food colouring into your dough and knead on a flat surface. Once you're happy that the colour is all the way through - roll into a ball and wrap in cling film.
Repeat with all your colours and pop them into the fridge for 30 mins (you'll notice that the food colouring makes your dough very sticky and very wet)
Use this opportunity to wipe down your work surface and wash your hands.
Roll all 5 of those guys out into logs or connect the edges and make a big swirly circle (get creative with it)
Use cookie cutters to shape
or just make a rad pattern and press it into a baking tray which you have already buttered or sprayed with cook and bake.
You can prick the dough before baking but I like to go old school and prick it with the tines of a fork after baking, it does help the excess steam escape and makes for a better catchment area for the sugar sprinkled over it later.
Bake for 30-35 minutes
And there you have it. Quick and easy and a massive crowd pleaser.