This is what you get when you combine the cinnamon-sugary Snickerdoodle with a classic, Scottish Shortbread!
It’s damp and dreary weather here on the East Coast, but I’m not complaining because it’s the perfect excuse for procrastibaking. I’m just going to curl up on the sofa and watch Nadiya Bakes, with a pot of tea and these Snickerdoodle Shortbread Wedges. These came about when we couldn’t decide whether to make Snickerdoodles or Shortbread, so we did a mash up. They require no more than a bowl and a whisk, are much less effort than baking individual cookies, and they happen to be perfect for a light dip in my cup of Lady Grey when no-one's looking!
My go-to shortbread recipe is from an old (1998!) Cordon Bleu cookbook of classic cookies. I’ve never been disappointed by anything I’ve made from this book, as one would expect from Cordon Blue, right?! This particular recipe calls for both regular and rice flour. If you don’t have rice flour, you can use regular flour in its place, no one will know any better (other than perhaps the one-and-only Mary Berry, but I don’t expect her ‘round for tea today!).
To snickerdoodle your shortbread, just dust the tin with a cinnamon-sugar mix before baking, and sprinkle more of it on top of the dough. It’s as simple as that! xoxo Kirsty
Ingredients for one round (7-inch) shortbread
1/2 cup (120g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup (60g) sugar
a pinch of salt
1 cup (120g) flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (60g) rice flour, or 1/4 cup regular flour
For the Cinnamon Sugar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Beat the butter in a large bowl with a whisk until smooth. Gradually add in the sugar, then the salt. Add the flour and rice flour and blend it in with a knife so that it comes together like clumpy, wet sand. You don’t want to knead it into a dough, crumbly is good!
Butter a 7-inch (18cm) shallow tin or dish and sprinkle the inside with 1 tablespoon of the sugar mixture. Press the dough into the tin and level it with the bottom of a flat glass or measuring cup. Prick the surface all over with a fork, and chill for 10 minutes in the fridge.
Sprinkle the surface of the dough with the remaining sugar mixture. Bake for 25 minutes until golden.
Remove it from the oven when it’s ready, and immediately cut into wedges using a sharp knife. Leave it in the tin to cool, don’t even bother trying to get it out yet as it will fall apart. When it’s cool, the shortbread will be much easier to remove from the tin. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.
