This was my first attempt at making shortbread cookies, and they turned out great! It was a little unusual working with a chalky dough that is more fragile than the traditional flexible dough, but the end results are well worth the extra effort. I love all shortbread, but the thyme and lemon zest in this recipe really makes it stand out.
This recipe called for some special utensils that I didn’t have, like a pastry blender and a pastry wheel, but I substituted things I had. Instead of a pastry blender, I used a fork to mix in the butter with the dry mixture. I confess it is an arm workout, but it can be done. Using a pastry blender will make your life easier.
And I didn’t have a pastry wheel so I just used cookie cutters. It was a little difficult trying to remove the cookie cutter without breaking the dough, causing the shapes to be not as well defined as I would have liked, but they still turned out pretty well. And I would recommend cutting the cookies closer together than I did. I left a lot of space between them so I didn’t yield as many cookies as I should have. But all these notes are about presentation. No matter what utensils you use to make these, they will taste delicious!
I took these cookies to work for a mini tea party I threw on Friday afternoon. I love bringing people together, especially over tea and cookies. I even brought some of my great-grandmother’s china to work for the mini party. Is it just me, or do things just taste better when they’re served on china? Paper plates and utensils just don’t cut it. Happy baking!
the speckled spork 