A very simple cookie with Scottish origin that has basic ingredients without any fancy hoola loopa that you need to master in order to make them. Many a times we overlook simple things and over complicate unnecessarily and try to twist ourselves into a pretzel without a clue of where to begin or end. So lets take a step back unwind and try to break down our actions into simple steps and appreciate anything and everything we do. Let’s begin with this cookie and this recipe, any shortbread recipe calls for three main ingredients flour, butter, and sugar that’s it but to make these cookies even more perfect add a pinch of salt, some ground rice/semolina, and sprinkle with Demerara sugar voila you’ll get perfect shortbread cookies. The cookies were totally mind-blowing with melt-in-your mouth taste and my left hand was constantly in war with my right hand fighting to stop me from grabbing cookies without a second thought, it’s that tempting. So be aware you’ve been cautioned.

Perfect Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

Unsalted Butter (room temperature) — 1/2 cup
Sugar — 1/4 cup
All Purpose Flour — 1 cup + 1 Tbsp
Ground Rice (I used Semolina) — 1/4 cup
Demerara Sugar for sprinkling

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300F (150C). Beat butter, sugar, and salt until soft. In a separate bowl sift flour and semolina. I used presifted flour and skipped the step for sifting. Add the flour and semolina to the butter-sugar bowl and mix to make a smooth dough. If the dough is crumbling and not forming into a soft dough add little more butter and knead well.
Either lightly roll the dough into a smaller size than a small cake tin lined with parchment paper or roll/pat the dough into 1 cm thickness and cut into desired shape and place them on baking sheet. Refrigerate the tray/tin for about 15 minutes until firm.
Bake for around an hour if baking in a tin, the cook time is considerably lower if baked into cookies. Check intermittently to see if the dough is cooked but not browned. Remove from oven, cut into slices or squares. Cool in cooling rack for about 5 minutes, sprinkle some demerara sugar for extra sweetness. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!