Cookie
The World's Best Shortbread Is No Longer Sold—but We Got the Recipe
And now we can make them at home.
Whenever we have guests at the Food52 office for a meeting, we like to give them a warm welcome with freshly made coffee, some flowers, and a (sometimes wobbly) vintage chair to sit on.
For special guests, though, our power move is to pick up baked goods from some of our favorite shops in the city. We get kouign amann from Chanson when we’re in the mood for a single show-stopper, and chocolate chip cookies from Seven Grams, when we’re going for simple and confident.
When it’s time to go all out, we stop at Bien Cuit and order pretty much everything. They make the crispiest, yeastiest, most adorable mini baguettes, which we serve with salted butter and jam. We also love their gluten free chocolate scones and golden-sheathed croissants, and we always—always—get a few of their sugar-crusted shortbread, which are part cookie, part laminated pastry: buttery, salty, and though pebbled with sugar, not too sweet. In truth, we’ve been known to steer our very important guests away from the shortbread—in the direction of the other tasty bits— just so we get to eat them post meeting.
This shortbread scheme had been going on for a few years, until last week, when everything changed. There, on the meeting table sat our VIP pastry spread, sans our beloved shortbread. My heart stopped. Where were they? Had they run out? Had they been forgotten?
The news was worse still: Bien Cuit, we learned, had stopped making them.
There was only one solution: I had to get the recipe. And as a self-serving writer hoping to get others to support her cause, I tweeted at Bien Cuit and begged them to bring the shortbread back. On Twitter, Bien Cuit held firm, but they did offer to share the recipe.
When I received it, I was skeptical. So much can go awry when scaling down a recipe from a bakery-sized batch. Their recipe called for more than a pound of butter and flour; a calculator was called in. I halved the recipe and made the dough, which has a few odd but necessary twists. First, instead of rolling out the dough, you spread it on a parchment lined baking sheet—just a good, smooth layer. Next you chill it overnight. And last, you bake it at a low temperature—300°F—for an hour and 15 minutes! Sure that I’d have a tray of burned shortbread, I checked it after 30 minutes. It was still the color of butter. As promised, the full baking time was required.
Not only was the long baking time unusual yet effective, but I found that spreading the dough in the pan and cutting the shortbread after baking (techniques clearly geared toward the efficiency of a bakery) speeds up the technique and creates an uber flaky layered dough that’s crisp enough to shatter and delicate inside. My kids, who generally scoff at any cookie lacking chocolate chips, lit up when they ate them.
Bien Cuit shortbread may no longer headline our VIP guest spreads, but it will live on happily in my home. And hopefully yours, too.
| 302 | grams unsalted butter |
| 93 | grams confectioners' sugar |
| 3.5 | grams kosher salt |
| 302 | grams all-purpose flour |
| 1/8 | cup regular or raw sugar, for sprinkling |
| 302 | grams unsalted butter |
| 93 | grams confectioners' sugar |
| 3.5 | grams kosher salt |
| 302 | grams all-purpose flour |
| 1/8 | cup regular or raw sugar, for sprinkling |
Written by: Amanda Hesser
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69 Comments
8 oz. plain flour
4 oz. cornstarch
4 oz. confectioner’s sugar
Pinch salt
8 oz. butter (½ lb.)
A little water
Mix flour, cornstarch, sugar and salt into bowl and work in butter until all is worked and smooth. Divide mixture into two and roll like 2 Polish sausages and roll in soft brown sugar. Wrap in waxed paper grease proof and put in fridge for 1 or 2 hours. Take out and cut into biscuit shape (slice). Put back in fridge overnight. Cook at 350 degrees electric for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. Makes about 24 cookies.
(I let the butter soften first and use raw sugar instead of brown sugar. In our oven we bake them for 27 minutes. They do not seem to cook correctly in a gas oven.) PB
Please?
I'm thinking egg-shaped cookie cutters in various sizes for Easter to go along with Lemon Posset. The ovals don't have any fussy corners so I'm hoping would punch through OK? Thx.
Could you give us accurate Measurements in cups and teaspoons?
Thanks
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