Sunday Recipe: Celia Wakefield's Customizable Shortbread Cookies

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: It's Labor Day weekend, which means, perhaps, bringing a little something along to a cookout. And of course, it marks the beginning of the fall season: everything starting back up at church, resuming your book club or your volunteer group, getting together with friends after a summer spent enjoying the outdoors (New England and the PNW) or hiding from the heat and fire-ash (everybody else.) What do you need to bring in hand to all these events? How about some delicious cookies made from Celia Wakefield's recipe?

 

 

Good morning Reds and readers, friends all, I hope you're having a great Bouchercon and remember if all goes well, ALL the Reds and me too will be at New England Crime Bake. It will be my first mystery con and I look to you to take care of me as I know Julia will be very busy. 

What have I been cooking? I’ve been very jealous of Edith’s tomato crop as I can’t grow anything living as we live in the woods so I am dependent on my local farm stand and I do love tomatoes that taste like tomatoes. I can’t get enough of them at this time of the year and hope the good weather will stretch into September so we can continue to gorge ourselves. Just in case you’re thinking not another tomato recipe, wrong! It was almost a recipe with tomatoes in it but I’ll keep it for another time.

 

Today it’s shortbread, and for those of you with good memories you’re thinking, well she did that back in 2020, not to mention the deconstructed strawberry shortbread summer dessert. But, I’ve been experimenting. Yes, I got brave and like Star Trek went boldly with my baking. 

 

I’m sure many of you know the trouble with a successful dish is that the family and friends want it forever. For example if I ask Victor what would he like for dinner, he’ll reply, ‘A baked potato’. He loves a potato baked well, cut in half and the insides scraped out, mashed, mixed with cheeses, maybe some creme fraiche or feta, a little olive oil or butter or both, s&p, piled back into the shells, anointed well with grated cheese and run under the broiler till a suntan appears on top. So simple, so delicious, so tired of making it.

And I got tired of making shortbread in 2020 when I wasn’t out and about hunting down brands. I tried so many recipes and found nothing really was what I wanted. The pandemic dialed down enough to allow us to go shopping, well masked of course, and I found that Whole Foods had its own brand of shortbread cookies, less expensive than Walkers, of course not as good, but in life we sometimes have to make sacrifices. Also far too sweet, but Victor liked them. Then came the great Global supply chain crisis and again shop shelves were empty or unavailable and still are in some locations. 

Last Christmas I asked for Paul Hollywood’s new book, BAKE. You might ask why, knowing my feelings on baking and whether I’m a star? Not! But who can resist those eyes? And I thought if anyone knew how to make a successful shortbread it was Paul so back into the kitchen I went. Followed his directions, religiously. Mixed carefully, folded by hand gently and was left with a pile of dry crumbs on my parchment paper. I wrapped it all up and bunged it into the fridge while I considered what I might say to Paul should I run across him at Whole Foods. 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of days went by. Finally I was ready for a little research. I dug out three books for help - Mark Bittman’s Baking Book (a gift 2 years ago,) BAKE, and my Readers Digest book on English cooking must have the answer. The recipes were very similar; the only real difference was that Bittman added an egg yolk. So I got out the dough crumbs, threw them into my Ninja bowl with the big scary blade, added an egg, yes a whole egg, and turned it on. Instantly I had a workable dough. Rolled between two sheets of parchment paper, chilled, cut and baked - Success was mine.

Having baked a few batches since then, here’s my recipe and method for Hacked Shortbread. Now part of following your own baking bliss is adding different flavors. I love lemon. I have also added ginger or cardamon spices to my doughs. I think cinnamon would be lovely too around the holidays. Then the tops can be decorated with pieces of crystallized ginger or other dried fruits. I have sprinkled colored sugars over the warm cookies or even a dusting of confectioners sugar would be pretty. This is no family recipe with traditions, make it your own and send me a photo.

 

 

 

 

Assemble ingredients: 

2 sticks softish butter cut into chunks 

2 Cups Flour 

1/2C + 1 Tblsp sugar (I use cane sugar but brown sugar would be interesting too) 

3/4 C cornstarch

Pinch salt 

Food Processor

There it is: five ingredients and now you add the flavor. I chose lemon using a hack going back to my British Butler days when I made cold lemon soufflé by the bucket.

METHOD:  

• Carefully peel strips of the lemon without added the white pith and chop into smaller pieces. Place them in the food processor together with the sugar and pulse until chopped together. It will smell lovely.

   

• Add the butter and pulse to cream with the sugar and lemon. 

   

• Add half the flour and all the cornstarch and pulse to combine. 

   

• Add the remainder of the flour, the salt and half the squeezed lemon (Approximately 1 Tblsp), pulse to mix together. If the dough looks dry add a little more lemon juice and pulse again briefly.

   

• Turn the dough out on to a sheet of parchment, quickly gather into a ball and top with a second sheet of parchment. 

   

• My rolling pin* has measuring rings of different thicknesses which give me an even roll over the entire piece of dough and working between two sheets of parchment means no need for extra flour and less direct handling of the dough.

   

• This is the first roll so the dough doesn’t need to be as thin as in the final one. 

   

• Roll to incorporate all the ingredients then wrap the parchment around the dough, place in a plastic bag and refrigerate. I like to leave the dough for several hours or overnight. 

   

• When ready to bake, remove the dough from the fridge and allow to soften a little before rolling and cutting. I cut mine into cookies. See video, below.

   

• Cut out the cookies and place on a baking sheet covered with parchment. Place baking sheet in fridge to cool down. 

   

• Gather and wrap dough scraps and refrigerate for a second bake. 

   

• When you are ready to bake set oven to 325F and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The cookies should be pale with a light sunburn around the edges. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy.

   

   

  In response to questions about when or whether to add an egg: So either 

  1 Tblsp.lemon juice or other juice (how would pomegranate go I wonder) 

  OR an egg. Not both, though I don't think it would affect the flavor. If you 

  chose to add the grated lemon and then some lemon essence, you might 

  need the egg yolk. This is where the magic and trust comes in. When is 

  enough liquid enough to bind the mix but not overwhelm it. - If I chose to 

  add an egg I would separate it and start with the yolk and see how the dough 

  felt. Not good if it's too wet.  

*.  My rolling pin came from Food52, but I just checked Amazon and they have a plethora of choices.