This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe from Dorie’s Cookies is a simple shortbread flavoured with rose extract and hibiscus tea. It’s a quick recipe that comes together in minutes and I learned a couple of things about baking shortbread:
Dorie’s recipe calls for this to be baked in an 8-inch round pan. All of my round pans are larger than 8 inches and I know that baking it in a larger pan would make the shortbrad thinner, affecting the timing of the baking and, ultimately not make for as successful a recipe SO I used an 8-inch square pan and cut the cookie in halves, making two rectangles, then made five smaller rectangles from each of those rectangles – each of which I cut in halves diagonally to make “fans”. Necessity is the mother of invention!
I’ve never actually docked my shortbread to make the shapes – I’ve only ever rolled out or cut it once it’s baked. Docking the cookie with the tines of a fork (in aforementioned rectangles and fan shapes) before it’s baked then just after it comes out of the oven was a really easy way cutting the shortbread – it cut through really easily with a sharp knife once it was cooled.
Now, about that rose extract and hibiscus tea flavouring? I couldn’t taste it at all. I used pure hibiscus tea leaves too. Not a problem because it was amazingly buttery and absolutely delicious but I was kind of intrigued to see what those flavours tasted like. Oh well.
Dorie calls for this to be iced with a simple icing sugar/ milk (I used heavy cream) glaze which I opted for because I thought they needed fancying up a little (also the tea leaves look a little odd in the shortbread on their own, especially since the flavour wasn’t that pronounced). Also, I had the prettiest sprinkles ever that I wanted to use!
These sprinkles are from the lovely Rosie at Sweetapolita and you can order them yourselves here. (NOT an affiliate link, I just love what Rosie does!).
I loved the look of these iced shortbread and they brightened up two of my neighbours’ porch parties this past glorious sunny weekend (which I spent, for the most part, at my desk writing. Spring in February, apparently you were wonderful!). Would I make these again? Probably not but I am excited to try the rest of the shortbread recipes in Dorie’s Cookies (there are many!). Now I know I can make fans without a round pan and now I know how to properly dock and cut them!
You can find the recipe for Dorie’s Rose-Hibiscus Shortbread Fans on pp 191-193 of Dorie’s Cookies.
Want more cookie recipes? Order Dorie’s Cookies for yourself on Amazon (this link should bring you to the Amazon store in your country) or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository. Then join us over on Tuesdays with Dorie and bake your way through the book!
Please note: This post contains product links from Amazon and The Book Depository which are affiliate links, meaning if you click over and purchase something, I will receive a very small percentage of the purchase price (at no extra cost to you) which goes towards maintaining eat. live. travel. write. Thank you in advance!
Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of “Dorie’s Cookies” for review purposes. I was not asked to write about the book, nor am I being compensated for doing do. All opinions 100% my own.
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