Easy Shortbread Cookie Recipe? Nope

As I love baking I couldn’t wait to try out the “Easy Shortbread Recipe” that I had found online. I plan on baking my mom a collection of her favourite treats for her mother’s day gift, but after my little episode in the kitchen yesterday, I’m beginning to think that maybe I should rethink that plan.

 

When a recipe reads “Easy” and rates as “for beginners” you think to yourself, well how hard can this be? Or at least that’s what I thought when I first saw the recipe. Turns out my expectations were but a fantasy and I ended up standing in the kitchen with flour everywhere. 

So there I was in my kitchen on an early Sunday morning ready to try out this “easy” recipe and here’s what happened. 

Step 1: Mix all wet ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Rate: Easy enough.

Step 2: Mix dry ingredients together.

Rate: Easy enough

Step 3: Combine the ingredients into one bowl.

Rate: Mmmmmm, neither bowls where big enough for both ingredients, so I hunted for a bowl that was large enough. Has anyone ever tried to transfer flour from one bowl into another? Not the easiest task ay. In trying not to get flour everywhere I ended up with the biggest mess ever. 

Step 4: Add more butter if dough is crumbly.

Rate: As fate would have it, I had crumbly dough and after adding more butter it only made the dough worse. So? I headed to Google and searched “how to fix crumbly dough” and zap, fast results such as “while rolling out the dough add flour”. 

Step 5: Roll out your dough.

Rate: Stop while you’re ahead here or call over that pro baker you have on sped dial. What was supposed to be the easiest task, left me standing there clueless. Getting the dough from the bowl onto the floured surface for me to roll it was battle #1. Battle #2 was rolling out the dough. The gods were against me again as this time the dough was stuck to the rolling pin. Yes you read right. Stuck. Wax on, wax off wasn’t happening here. I rolled and rolled and instead of the dough rolling out flat, it simply wrapped and wrapped around the rolling pin. 

Eventually after about 20 minutes the dough began to co-operate.

Step 6: Cut dough into shapes with cookie cutter.

Rate: How hard can this be? Cookie cutter? Check! I very professionally began cutting the dough into different shapes, and yes you guessed it! It was impossible to lift the cubes off the counter without the dough falling into a million pieces.

So I stood there, flour everywhere, oven light flickering indicating that it was ready to bake something, and then dough, just a huge pile of dough. 

Ste 7: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Rate: I once again rolled out the dough, and with the help of a knife and an egg lifter managed to get the dough onto the baking sheets and into the oven on shapes that looked like a combination of both a circle and square. 

Recipe rate: The title should change from “Easy Shortbread Cookie Recipe” to “For Pro Bakers Only”.