Happy Easter! 🐣😀
Perfection is very hard to improve on, and basic shortbread is very close to perfect in my opinion.
But one thing I tried in the past, was adding a bit more salt. I was sadly not able to taste much difference, so this time I wish to try salt sprinkled on top instead. I think it ought to stick if added quickly out of the oven, and prior to sprinkling any sugar. I don't have any salt flakes at the moment, so think I will lightly crush some coarse sea salt. As always very interested to hear your thoughts.
(This is semi-related to my intrigue for very old recipes. From what I read, butter used to have a much higher salt content. I was going to say it is 1.6%, but I just double checked and to my surprise they have reduced it again. It now sits at 1.1% here in Norway.)
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Edit/result:
-Firstly, can we take a moment to appreciate how quick this bake is. Prep time until in oven, including washing up, was only 25min! (Tip - if your butter is fridge cold, just use a cheese cutter into a bowl resting in warm water. It will be perfect for hand mixer by the time you measure/add the sugar.)
-Salt sprinkle was a success in my personal opinion. The others seemed to like it too! I wonder if I could have used even coarser salt, and perhaps added it pre-baking.
-They started selling Walkers Shortbread here, so we tried a bit of that for comparison. We prefer the low flour recipe bottom pg.6, so It was far too dry for our taste. Perhaps better if dunked in tea. (Also, the price tag was astronomical here in Norway.)