This is my second attempt at making a moulded shortbread. On the bright side, I liked the flavour of this one much better than my previous attempt and the dough was also much easier to work with. Unfortunately, this one fell apart even worse than the last one when I tried to unmould it. Possibly I should have let it cool a bit more first. But I didn't want to leave it too long as my understanding is that they need to be unmoulded and cut while still at least somewhat warm. I guess I'll try going for a 30-minute, rather than a 20-minute, rest next time? Hopefully that will help. Beyond that, I'm not sure what else to do.

The first time around, I tried buttering the pan and the centre stuck and came apart. The second time I tried spraying it with cooking spray and basically the same thing happened. The first time I used the traditional 1:2:3 ratio of sugar:butter:flour. This time I used a different recipe that was closer to 2:5:5. (So, proportionally more butter and less flour than the traditional version.) Still the same result. If anything, I think it had slightly less structural integrity this time! The first time I used all wheat flour. This time I used ~25% rice flour. No joy. I do think that the rice flour improved the texture, but it didn't make it unmould any better than the first time around. So, at this point, I'm really not sure what else to try. Beyond that slightly longer cooling period, I'm pretty much out of ideas at this point. Oh well, at least I still got tasty cookies out of it!

Ugly, but tasty.

Buttery Vanilla Shortbread

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 225g unsalted butter, softened
• 30g icing (confectioners'/powedered) sugar
• 60g sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 55g rice flour
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 170g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease, oil, or spray a ceramic shortbread mould or 23cm (9") loose-bottom tart tin.
2. Beat the butter until light.
3. Sift in the icing sugar and beat until incorporated.
4. Beat in the sugar and cream until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in the vanilla.
6. Add the rice flour and salt and mix in.
7. Add the wheat flour in three additions, stirring to combine between each one.
8. Press the dough into the prepared mould or tin.
9. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 50-60 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 20-30 minutes.
11. Loosen edges and turn out onto plate or cutting board.
12. Cut into wedges and allow to finish cooling.