Shortbreads are probably one of my favorite cookies. What’s not to like: butter, sugar, and just enough flour to hold them together. This recipe from Dorie, the Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbreads, appeals to that Pecan Sandy lover in me…I am making an earlier Tuesdays with Dorie recipe because I already made the brioche sticky buns: you can see my brioche here AND my brioche sticky buns here. I made those almost the minute I had the book in my hand.

They are in the oven baking even as I type…She said a pinch of clove, and I might have put more than a pinch in: I can smell the cloves, which makes me think I was over zealous. We’ll see.

Also, can we discuss how much I dislike the stooooopit silicone hot pads I use? They are awkward, you cannot feel anything through them: heat OR the cookies you ruin by clumsily grabbing the cookie pan…(see here–that cookie missing its edge? It got destroyed by one of those pads…)
I have to either get rid of them, always use my dish towels (the cotton ones, not the microfiber ones: those melt. Trust me on that.)…or just my tongs, which probably are my answer…

At any rate, I did as Dorie told. I didn’t over mix. This is key. I rolled them out in a zip-lock bag (very clever), although I think I may have rolled a bit thinner near the edges than 1/4-inch. Once chilled, it was simplicity itself to measure and cut…and since I’m learning to bake, I’m learning to be a bit compulsive about getting it right…I even used the ruler (that’s from Barbados with cool Bajan stamps…say Bajan with a hard “j”, not the “h” sound you might think…I love that the locals call themselves Bajans. I digress…) Of course, since I didn’t roll out perfectly, I got some less-than-perfect shortbread squares.

I would say I probably baked them a titch too long and yes, if truth be told, one shake of clove should have been enough. But now they are clove brown sugar pecan shortbreads.

Things could be worse.

As for the taste tests: all is well. I make shortbread at Christmas every year, and as I enjoy this with a glass of red wine, I think Dorie is on to something with that not overmixing: these are melt in your mouth.

Can’t wait to bake again.