Whipped Vanilla Shortbread (yes, like Ted Lasso’s)
Tender, light-as-air, truly melt-in-your-mouth vanilla shortbread takes only 5 ingredients. The ingredients you select matter here, and how you treat them as well. So follow the simple directions carefully, and you’ll be on your way to better biscuit bliss …
- Yield: Makes an 8-by-8-inch shortbread
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 cup unsalted Irish butter, at room temp (grab the grass-fed, good quality stuff!)
- 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, plus more for topping (or caster sugar, if you can find it)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour, sifted
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Alternative flavor suggestions: try a teaspoon of almond extract for almond shortbread. The zest and juice of 2 limes makes for great vanilla-lime shortbread. Orange and lemon zests are lovely as well.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Butter an 8-by-8-inch cake pan.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a mixing bowl using a hand-held mixer, whip the butter for 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- If using granulated sugar, put it in a food processor and process until it’s finely ground. Skip this step if using caster sugar (it’s already finely ground).
- Add the processed sugar and the vanilla to the butter, and whip for 5 more minutes (yes, a full 10 minutes of whipping). Add the sifted flour and the salt and whip on high just until combined.
- Transfer the dough to the buttered pan and press it down as evenly as you can, smoothing out the surface (a glass or measuring cup work great here). Sprinkle the top evenly with a thin layer of sugar and press it lightly into the surface. Bake just until light golden brown, and faintly cracked on the surface, about 48 to 55 minutes. Let the shortbread cool completely in the pan before gently turning it out and slicing into bars. NOTE: I actually prefer to slice them into small squares because the shortbread is so light and tender that long bars tend to break (though that’s what I’ve pictured). Smaller, two-bite squares are perfect.