Crisp Orange Shortbread Recipes

CRISP ORANGE SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Lightly oil a baking sheet. Beat the butter, then cream it with the sugar and orange zest until light. Stir in the flour and baking powder and mix together to form a dough.
• Divide the mixture into 10 balls, arrange on a baking sheet. Press each ball fl at with the tip of a round-bladed knife. Chill for 15 mins, then bake for 12-15 mins until light golden. Leave on the baking sheet for 2 mins before releasing with a palette knife. Slide onto a rack to cool. Will keep stored in an airtight container for up to a week.

ORANGE SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Blend together butter, superfine sugar, zest, and salt in a bowl with a fork. Sift flour into butter mixture and blend with fork until mixture forms a soft dough.
• Transfer dough to an ungreased large baking sheet and pat into a 10- by 5-inch rectangle. Prick dough all over with fork and sprinkle with coarse sugar (if using), pressing it gently into dough with your fingertips to adhere. Score dough crosswise with back of a knife into 6 rectangles (do not cut all the way through), then score each rectangle into 2 triangles.
• Bake shortbread in middle of oven until edges are golden but center is pale, 12 to 17 minutes. Cool on baking sheet on a rack 10 minutes, then cut into 12 triangles along scored lines while still warm. Transfer triangles with a long spatula to a rack to cool completely.

CRISP LEMON SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°. In a bowl, beat butter, confectioners' sugar and lemon zest until blended. Beat in lemon juice. Gradually beat in flour., Divide dough into four portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough into a 5x3-1/2-in. rectangle. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets. Cut each rectangle into six squares, but do not separate. Prick tops with a fork. Sprinkle with sugar., Bake 20-25 minutes or until light brown. Cool on pans 10 minutes. Transfer shortbread to a cutting board; recut into squares. Cool on a wire rack.

ROSEMARY-ORANGE SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• In a food processor, process the sugar, rosemary, zest and salt for several minutes, until the sugar has colored and the rosemary is chopped very fine. Add the flour, scraping up the contents at the bottom of the bowl to blend the mixture evenly. Sprinkle the butter over the mixture. Process in pulses until no bits of butter are visible; the dough should not quite be clumping or coming together. Drizzle the Orangecello or orange juice over the mixture. Process using 10 to 15 one-second pulses; stop and stir to scrape up and incorporate the mixture on the bottom as necessary. Stop processing as soon as the mixture begins to come together.
• Turn out the dough onto a large sheet of baking parchment or wax paper. Gently knead it just until evenly blended and cohesive. If it is slightly dry or crumbly, gradually knead in 1 or 2 more teaspoons of Orangecello; if it is soft, sprinkle over a tablespoon or so of flour and knead in until slightly firmer.
• Divide the dough into thirds. Roll out each portion between sheets of baking parchment or wax paper to a round measuring a generous 1/8-inch thick; be sure the thickness is uniform. Check the undersides and smooth out any wrinkles. Stack the dough portions (paper attached) on a tray or baking sheet. Freeze for at least 10 minutes and up to 24 hours. If the frozen dough is hard, let it warm up and soften just slightly before using.
• When ready to bake, place a rack in the middle third of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees. Line several baking sheets with baking parchment, or spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.
• Working with one dough portion and keeping the others chilled, peel off one of the sheets of paper, then pat it back into place. Invert the dough, then peel off and discard the second sheet. Using a 2 1/2- to 2 3/4-inch (or similar) round or scalloped cutter, cut out the cookies. Use a spatula to transfer them to the lined baking sheets, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart. If the dough becomes too soft to work with, return it to the freezer until it firms up, then continue. Repeat the process with the other portions of dough. Combine the dough scraps and continue rolling, chilling and cutting out until it is all used.
• Bake one sheet at a time on the middle rack for 5 minutes. Rotate the sheet from front to back and bake for 3 to 5 minutes or until the cookies are just faintly rimmed with brown; watch carefully, as they brown rapidly near the end of baking. Let the pans cool on wire racks for about 3 minutes, until the cookies firm up, then use a wide spatula to gently transfer the cookies to racks. Cool completely.

CRISP SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• In a bowl with a fork blend together butter and confectioners' sugar until combined well. Sift flour into butter mixture, tossing flours together lightly before combining with butter mixture and stir with fork until flours are incorporated. (Dough will be crumbly.) Press dough evenly onto bottom of a 9-inch metal pie plate.
• With tines of fork decoratively mark edge of dough and with a butter knife score dough into 8 wedges. Prick each wedge in several places with fork. Bake shortbread in middle of oven 30 minutes.
• Reduce temperature to 300°F and continue to bake shortbread 15 minutes more, or until golden.
• Cool shortbread in pie plate on a rack 5 minutes. With a sharp knife cut shortbread into wedges and transfer wedges to rack to cool completely. Shortbread keeps in an airtight container at room temperature 5 days.