Universal shortcrust pastry
Description
It goes perfectly with tea and coffee. The numbers in the name are not only the ratio of the ingredients but also a hint that making this dough is as easy as “one, two, three.” This dough isn’t only ideal for cookies; it also works beautifully for delicate cake layers and as a base for open pies with berry or fruit fillings. The recipe is easy to learn by heart. What kind of cookies? Shortbread! So for the base you use sugar—granulated “sand”—and that is one part. After that it’s hard to get wrong: two parts butter and three parts flour. For example, 100 g sugar, 200 g butter, and 300 g flour, or 50 g sugar, 100 g butter, and 150 g flour. If you like, you can add all sorts of flavourings to the dough: citrus zest, ground nuts, or cocoa. Serve cooled or slightly warm.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1
Prepare all ingredients.
- 2
Step 2
Combine room-temperature butter and sugar. Beat until fluffy.
- 3
Step 3
Gradually add the flour.
- 4
Step 4
First mix the dough with a spoon, then continue kneading by hand.
- 5
Step 5
Gather the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- 6
Step 6
Universal shortcrust pastry “1-2-3” is ready.
- 7
Step 7
Happy baking! I made shortbread cookies and baked them in the oven at 200°C for about 15 minutes, dipping one side of each cookie in sugar first. The listed amount of ingredients makes roughly two standard baking sheets.