If it sounds Irish, that is enough to make me try a recipe. And with this one that calls itself Irish shortbread, I didn’t think twice. When you see that this delicious bake needs only 4 ingredients, there’s no second-guessing it. This recipe is very humble, using just 4 ingredients, and so modest, because this shortbread is addictive. It couldn’t be any simpler to make, even though halfway through the recipe you might wonder if it was all a big mistake; it wasn’t- this recipe delivers
Simple Does It
If the recipe wasn’t already simple enough, I simplified it further. To begin with, I halved the recipe, which means this recipe will work just as well if you double it. You will only need a larger pan or to bake in 2 batches. Second, in my signature style of baking with minimal effort, I used a cake beater to get the dough together. This halved the time and effort the Irish shortbread needed.
If you don’t have a cake beater or would rather go the traditional way, use a wooden spoon to beat the butter and sugar and bring the dough together. It will work just fine.
The only four ingredients you will need to make this shortbread are butter, sugar, flour and cornstarch.
Notes on making Irish Shortbread
- Make sure the butter is at room temperature and softened; this will allow it to blend with the flour easily
- At some point, the dough will look crumbly, but don’t fret. When you clump the crumbly dough, it will come together
- Do not overbeat or overmix the dough; you can stop even when the dough looks crumbly. Refer to point 2 for clarification.
An easy recipe that uses only 4 ingredients and makes the most delicious Irish shortbread. Soft, buttery and melts in your mouth
Ingredients
125 gms butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cornflour
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 150 C. Grease a square baking tin with butter and line with baking paper.
- In a large bowl, mix the sugar and butter with a handheld cake beater until the mixture is light and fluffy
- Add the flour and cornflour and mix on the lowest speed on the beater until the dough just comes together (refer to notes above)
- Press the dough into the prepared pan and flatten using the back of a spoon
- Using a knife, cut the dough into equal squares; this will make it easier to cut the shortbread once baked
- Prick the dough all over using a fork
- Bake in a preheated oven for 50 mins until golden brown, then cut along the marks previously made to cut into serving squares
