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This Simple Rye Shortbread Recipe is an unassuming rustic cookie. Rye adds a lovely nutty flavor to this classic shortbread cookie. It is a tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
If you are looking for other rye recipes, let me share a few I love. These savory rye scones are to die for! I also really love these salted rye chocolate chip cookies.
What Makes This Recipe Work?
First of all, these are precisely what a good shortbread cookie should be. They are no-fuss, comfort cookies. They are lightly sweetened, but not overly sweet, which is my kind of cookie. When something is so sweet, I have a hard time enjoying it.
Next, these are made with rye, a whole grain. I love the nutty flavor this adds. Pair this with the added texture from a grain flour, and you have a winning combo!
You can easily make these ahead of time. This cookie dough will hold in the fridge for up to a week, or frozen for a month! I like to keep it on hand and bake a few when I get a craving for sweets.
Butter- make sure this is softened to room temperature.
Granulated sugar- you can also use sucanat or brown sugar if you prefer.
Vanilla- Pure vanilla
Egg- I used a large egg in this recipe.
Orange zest- Make sure to wash and dry your orange first before zesting.
How To Make
I made my cookies in a food processor, but you can also make them with a stand or hand mixer. Any of these work well. The food processor is the fastest, which is why I used it.
The first thing to do is to add the orange zest to the sugar. Mix it well. This is the best way to distribute the oranges throughout the cookies.
Next, add the butter and orange sugar to the food processor. Give them a few pulses until it is mixed well.
Add in the egg and vanilla and pulse a few times again. Scrape down the sides and add the flour and salt on top of that. With a spoon or fork, mix the salt into the flour on top. Then, pulse to combine. Scrape the edges and pulse a few more times.
Take the dough and place it on a piece of saran wrap. Roll it into a log, it will be soft, so do your best. Roll it up and place it in the fridge to chill.
I let mine chill for about an hour. Then slice in ½-inch slices and place on your baking sheet. I put 12 on a sheet. Bake until the edges are just slightly browned. Don't overdo it.
Remove from the oven and let them cool for about 5 minutes on the pan. Then, gently scoop them into a cooling rack. That is it! Done!
Notes
There are a few different types of rye flour you can buy. I prefer the dark rye, as this is the whole grain flour. The medium and light right is sifted for a lighter color and milder flavor. These are not my favorite types to use, but I will say though if this is your first time baking with rye flour, medium and light may be a good place to start. They are much easier for someone to get used to.
I really like to chill these before baking. It helps the flour to hydrate, but also for the batter to firm up a bit for baking.
If you are making these ahead of time, wrap them tightly in saran wrap. They will hold in the fridge for up to a week. If you are freezing them, wrap them in saran wrap and freeze for a few hours. Then, place them in a freezer Ziplock bag. They will hold for up to a month. Let them thaw in the fridge the night before baking. Then slice as usual.
Simple Rye Shortbread Cookies
Amy Sandidge
These simple and rustic rye shortbread cookies are just perfect. Perfectly tender, nutty, and with oranfe undertones.
Combine the zest and sugar, then mix well. Now add the orange sugar and butter to a food processor, or stand mixer.
Pulse until they are well combined. Add in the vanilla and egg. Pulse again to combine. Scrape down the edges. Then add in the flour with the salt on top. With a fork or spoon mix in the salt.
Then pulse again to combine the flour. Scrape the sides and pulse a few more times.
Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on parchment. Roll it into a log, then cover with the saran wrap.
Place the cookie dough in the fridge and let it chill for at least an hour or up to 1 week.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Remove the cookie log and cut it into ½-inch pieces. Place 12 per baking sheet and place them in the oven. Bake for 10-14 minutes. You want the edges to be just slightly browned.
Carefully remove the pan from the oven and let the cookies cool for about 5 minutes before gently placing them on a cooling rack.
That is it! They are ready to be enjoyed and ready to go.
The most common mistakes when making shortbread are over-working the dough, and incorporating too much flour. The less you work the dough, the more crumbly and melt-in-your-mouth your shortbread cookies will be.
Piercing the shortbread with a fork is not only for decoration, but it's meant for more even baking. Poking holes in the shortbread allows the heat to penetrate the cookie, hence more even baking. Notice I'm using powdered sugar here.
Much the same as pricking the base of a pie crust, potato scones and other baked goods, pricking shortbread with a fork ensures that the biscuits don't bubble up and bake uniformly. It also gives it the classic pattern, for which shortbread is known.
Traditional Scottish shortbread is a simple recipe made with sugar, butter, flour, and salt. Other shortbread styles will include leavening agents like baking powder and baking soda, which makes them crisp instead of crumbly like traditional Scottish shortbread.
Irish Shortbread Is Distinct From Scottish Shortbread
As cornstarch is a potent thickener relative to flour, this creates a denser cookie. Whichever version of shortbread you prefer, though, the original -- which is often just called "shortbread" -- came from Scotland.
Do I need to chill shortbread before baking? While some recipes call for the dough to be chilled before baking, you don't need to chill it in this recipe! The dough gets pressed into a baking pan, so we don't need to worry about it spreading on a baking sheet.
If it's too warm, the butter and sugar cannot properly cream and the cookies will taste dense. Many shortbread recipes call for cold butter worked into the dry ingredients and that gives you a wonderfully flaky cookie but if not mixed properly, the results can be inconsistent.
Butter is an emulsifier and it makes cookies tender. It also adds in the crispy-around-the-edges element. Adding too much butter can cause the cookies to be flat and greasy. Adding too little butter can cause the cookies to be tough and crumbly.
Use your hands to form the dough into a flat disc, then wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for at least an hour. Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface until it is ⅛-¼” thick.
Sugar provides a fast source of energy. There are rarely any artificial additives. Cons: Shortbread is a weight watcher's nightmare because it is extremely high in saturated fat and calories.
Ingredient Ratios:Butter: Shortbread relies heavily on butter for its flavor and texture. Make sure you are using the correct ratio of butter to flour. If there is too much flour or too little butter, the dough may be too dry. Measuring Accuracy: Accurate measuring of ingredients is crucial in baking.
There are a variety of reasons why the shortbread could be damp underneath but it is most likely that either the dough is being pressed out too thickly, the pan is not metal so heats up too slowly, or the oven temperature is too high causing the top to brown before the bottom has cooked sufficiently.
Begin checking at the tail end of the cooking time. Undercooked shortbread will be doughy and chewy. Slightly overcooked and it will become chalky, brittle and hard.
The word "bread" comes from "biscuit bread" which was made from leftover bread dough that was sweetened and dried out in the oven to make biscuits. Why do you poke holes in shortbread? The holes allow the moisture to escape during baking and more even heat distribution. This helps dry out and crisp up the cookies.
After shaping the cookies, don't rush to the oven! Instead, chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or so (overnight is OK, too). A short stay in the fridge will firm up the cookies and solidify the butter. This will help keep them from spreading too much.
Should butter be cold or room temperature for making shortbread? Always start with cold butter straight from the refrigerator. This will keep the dough from warming up, making it greasy and difficult to roll out.
A cornstarch shortbread cookie is a shortbread cookie that contains cornstarch along with all-purpose flour in the cookie dough. The cornstarch is used to give these buttery treats a crispy, melt-in-the-mouth texture. It also helps prevent the cookies from becoming too crumbly and breaking apart.
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