Attention is key ingredient for superior shortbread

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/12/2021 (1703 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tanner Davies’ shortbread recipe comes with a dash of controversy.

“I add an egg yolk, which is controversial in the shortbread world,” he says with a laugh. “I just did it one day and I was looking it up after and there’s like forums of people online complaining about this, saying, ‘It’s a great cookie, but you can’t call it a shortbread.’”

Davies, a competitor on Season 4 of The Great Canadian Baking Show, politely disagrees. His understanding of shortbread is defined by a specific two-to-one ratio of flour to butter; besides, the yolk certainly doesn’t hurt.

“I always try to cram as much fat into my baking as possible in different ways and egg yolk is usually a good way to do that,” he says. “I think it gives it a nicer, more full flavour and a nice crumbly texture.”

Davies is originally from southern Ontario and moved to Winnipeg two years ago with his now-husband. While he bakes year-round these days, December in his childhood home was a special month full of cookie cutters, rolling pins and sheet pans.

“(My mom) didn’t do a lot of baking, but in December it was like cookie overload — 12 different kinds,” he says. “They’d be in the freezer for six months and I would sneak down to the basement to take out frozen cookies in June that were still there.”

Shortbread is a perennial favourite for Davies, who appreciates their melt-in-your-mouth quality and simple presentation. The recipe he’s adapted started with his husband’s grandmother. While her version is quite sparse — it only has four ingredients — the resulting cookies always manage to avoid the dryness that is sometimes synonymous with shortbread. Technique, it turns out, plays a key role.

“My husband always complains that he was the baker until I showed up,” he says. “But the shortbread he always made was amazing… he always taught me that you basically don’t want to wait until you’re seeing a lot of golden brown, the first little hint of brown anywhere on any cookie, they’re done.”

And because “it’s literally seconds between delicious and dry,” Davies tends to watch his shortbread like a hawk — oven light on, nose pressed to the glass, “I just kind of stare at it,” he says.

To his grandmother-in-law’s recipe, Davies has added dried cranberry and orange zest for a bit of holiday flair. While many people make cookie cutter shortbread, he prefers rolling them into a log and slicing for a more rustic look with a colourful cross-section of fruit and zest.

Davies hasn’t been home for the holidays in several years and he won’t be seeing his immediate family again this December — last year it was pandemic travel restrictions, this year it’s logistics. Cookie deliveries help fill the void.

“When I was growing up (my mom) and all of her friends and my aunt and everyone would always do cookie exchanges with big tubs of cookies that they would trade around,” he says. “I’m not doing 12 different kinds, but I like putting little boxes together for my friends.”

Last year, his baking travelled further afield.

“I mailed some to my mom and my grandpa down south,” he says. “And my brother lives in Spain, so I paid international shipping to send him some biscotti.”

Follow Davies’ baking adventures on Instagram (@bakewithtanner).

eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @evawasney

Cranberry & Orange Shortbread by Tanner Davies

Ingredients
227 g (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
65 g (1/2 cup) icing sugar, sifted
1 egg yolk
5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract
250 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) salt
15 ml (1 tbsp) finely grated orange zest
65 g (1/2 cup) dried cranberries, coarsely chopped
Granulated sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

Add softened butter and icing sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Alternatively, you can also use a hand mixer. Mix the butter and sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, approximately two minutes.

Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and continue mixing until fully combined. On a low speed, add the flour and salt until just incorporated. Switch to a wooden spoon and mix in the orange zest and dried cranberries until evenly dispersed.

Remove the dough to a long piece of plastic wrap. Roll the dough into a long log, approximately six to eight inches in length, depending on how large you want the final cookies to be. Use the plastic wrap to help you get an even and smooth cylinder. Chill until firm, at least 60 minutes. If you are making ahead of time, this dough can be frozen for up to one month.

Preheat the oven to 325 F and line one large or two medium sized sheet pans with parchment paper.

Unwrap the cookie dough and slice into ¼-inch rounds. If you prefer thicker shortbreads, you can slice up to 1/2-inch rounds instead, but they will take slightly longer to bake. Place rounds onto prepared sheets and bake for 12-15 minutes. Turn the sheets at least once during baking to ensure even doneness. Shortbreads can go from delicious to dry in a matter of seconds, so watch closely and remove from the oven at the first hint of a golden brown colour appearing.

As soon as you remove from the oven, sprinkle the cookies with a small amount of granulated sugar for extra sweetness and crunch. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for five minutes before removing to cooling racks.

Eva Wasney
Reporter

Eva Wasney has been a reporter with the Free Press Arts & Life department since 2019. Read more about Eva.

Every piece of reporting Eva produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.