This is my version of Shortbread
Vanilla bean, cooked medium, just sweet enough
Intro
These are not what you expect when you think shortbread.
Until you try them.
I grew up with a close friend whose parents came here from England. They always had those thick paper tubes lined with foil. Inside were pale shortbread cookies stamped with a knight’s head and sealed with a thin, glassy glaze to keep them from shattering into a million dry crumbs.
They tasted like butter and cheap vanilla extract and were best dunked in milk tea.
Classic shortbread is simple. Butter. Sugar. Flour. Vanilla. Sometimes egg, depending on who you ask.
I’ve never seen anyone else take the term “butter cookie” more literally.
A cookie this simple needs some intention.
Some people add pecans or chocolate, even candy cane bits to give it life.
I apply cook’s technique instead.
I treat them like a great hamburger. Hear me out.
Thick cut. High heat. Quality ingredients. Minimal handling. Cooked just right so the center stays soft and rich and the whole thing melts when you bite into it.
Thats what a butter cookie is to me. Not a sweet cracker.
These sticks of gold are speckled with real vanilla pulp. So if you’re planning on using imitation vanilla, save it for nostalgia baking.
Bourbon-Soaked Vanilla Beans
You can plump your own vanilla beans in bourbon with a splash of water, or buy a good vanilla pulp.
Formula
10 vanilla beans
1 cup (235 ml) bourbon
¼ cup (60 ml) hot water (200 degrees)
Cut each bean crosswise in half. Snip off the ends and toss those into your sugar jar.
Stand the beans upright, cut side down, in a wide-mouth quart jar. Pour the bourbon over the beans and add the hot water. Cover and let cool at room temperature.
Use the pulp anywhere a recipe calls for fresh vanilla bean. Use the liquid in place of extract.
Each time you use a bean, drop the spent skin into your vanilla sugar to get every bit of value.
Store in a cool, dark place.
Shortbread-Style Butter Bars
Eat them
With fresh berries and whipped cream.
Or warm, crumbled over ice cream with hot fudge.
Pro tip
Fold raw cookie dough scraps into your favorite ice cream or brownie batter!
