The Community Table Project is about sharing signature recipes from everyday folks and creating a sense of community around food. If you make a signature dish you think is great, send me an email at baconhound@gmail.com and let’s talk!
The holidays are time for tradition. For a lot of people, that tradition consists of baking.
Baking cookies.
Lots and lots of cookies.
The Cook:
Robyn Wilson
Robyn is a social work student, creator of The One podcast, and she also happens to be my wife. Even though she usually prefers to leave most of the cooking to me, don’t kid yourself, she can pull off some magical one-pot dinners, great sandwiches, and memorable baking when she wants to.
Robyn is my butter half. She is also the salt to my pepper. Literally. Whenever I ask her to taste something and tell me what it needs, her answer is always the same – salt.
The Dish:
Canada Cornstarch shortbread cookies.
I defy you to think of Christmas without cookies. It just doesn’t happen. Everyone has their favourite, and most often those favourites are made of shortbread. Deceivingly simple, yet difficult to get just right (or so I’ve learned after years of Christmases listening to Robyn in the kitchen cursing when her shortbread failed to live up to her standards), shortbread is a staple of many holiday traditions.
The Story:
Robyn’s mom was a Christmas baking machine, she would start her Christmas baking months before the actual holiday, filling up her freezer with all sorts of treats. These simple cookies were always the runaway hit and were what many in the family associated with Christmas. When her mom passed away, her recipe box got misplaced and sent Robyn on a quest to track down this beloved recipe. She scoured the internet, trying out different shortbread recipes hoping to regain that taste of home.
But nothing was right.
After a couple of years of testing out many different recipes that ended in disappointment, a lightbulb went off: like most of her mom’s tried and true recipes, Robyn only needed to look on the back of a box in her pantry. She found the Canada Cornstarch shortbread cookie recipe and quickly baked up a batch, already knowing this had to be the one. After pressing them with a fork and topping them with her mom’s signature red sprinkles, Robyn had finally found her way home.
The Recipe:
| Servings |
doz
|
- 1.5 cups softened butter
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1 cup cornstarch Canada cornstarch, naturally
- 1/4 tsp salt
Ingredients
|
|
- Combine all ingredients in a glass mixing bowl (a plastic bowl works just as good, just don't use metal)
- Shape the dough into 1" balls. Flatten each ball with a fork and top with sprinkles
- Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 300 F for 20 minutes until the bottoms are very lightly browned
- Transfer to a paper towel-covered wire rack to cool.
Tips and Tricks:
- Never use metal bowls or utensils. Not sure why, but this changes the cookies in an unidentifiable way
- These cookies seem very susceptible to humidity. If it's dry, add a bit more butter until the dough starts to stick together
- the dough shouldn't be too sticky, just enough so that you can roll into balls without it crumbling apart
- Mix the ingredients with your hands. Just do it. It's therapeutic.
Big thanks to Kunitz Shoes and The Italian Centre Shop for coming on board and sponsoring The Community Table Project. The support of strong community-minded companies like these help make content like this possible, so go see Kunitz Shoes next time you’re in need of quality shoes and cool socks, and The Italian Centre Shop for everything you need to make these recipes at home.
Baconhound is an Edmonton food blog, focusing on the best restaurants and dishes in Edmonton and beyond. Phil Wilson is a food writer and also the host of the Canadian food podcast, Off Menu. Find it in the iTunes store and on Stitcher.
| Servings |
doz
|
- 1.5 cups softened butter
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1 cup cornstarch Canada cornstarch, naturally
- 1/4 tsp salt
Ingredients
|
|
- Combine all ingredients in a glass mixing bowl (a plastic bowl works just as good, just don't use metal)
- Shape the dough into 1" balls. Flatten each ball with a fork and top with sprinkles
- Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 300 F for 20 minutes until the bottoms are very lightly browned
- Transfer to a paper towel-covered wire rack to cool.
Tips and Tricks:
- Never use metal bowls or utensils. Not sure why, but this changes the cookies in an unidentifiable way
- These cookies seem very susceptible to humidity. If it's dry, add a bit more butter until the dough starts to stick together
- the dough shouldn't be too sticky, just enough so that you can roll into balls without it crumbling apart
- Mix the ingredients with your hands. Just do it. It's therapeutic.
These are so delicious and bring back good memories for me, too! Thanks!
Thank you for posting this recipe. I also grew up with these short bread cookies, usually rolled (thick), cut out and decorated in a variety of cheery ways for the Christmas season.
I am in Mexico this year and am baking some for friends and neighbours and really needed this recipe. Thanks again.
A former neighbor used to make and give shortbread cookies every Christmas. I had a hard time sharing them with my other family members, they were so delicious. She wouldn’t part with the recipe for some reason (one of THOSE people), but one year during a holiday party at our home, I overheard her talking to a friend about the cookies and she mentioned cornstarch. One year I tried to find recipes that included cornstarch, but didn’t have any luck in duplicating them. I decided to try to find a recipe again this year because, well, hope springs eternal. I think I’ve found the recipe!!!! Carol’s cookies always had the fork imprints as these do. I can’t wait to try them. I am curious about the lack of flavoring such as vanilla. I think I’m going to try adding a teaspoon of vanilla if that isn’t sacrilege…
Update….I made the recipe, and this is the one! I added vanilla and think that added some flavor. Best shortbread recipe in the world!!!
I had lost my grandmoms recipe as well . Then there it was on the side of the corn starch box(the one with the rooster on it!!!) I like to pop a little almond flavour g in the mix just like she did❤️
We moved and the cornstarch box disappeared. But I am almost sure this is the recipe. Hooray!!
I too grew up with these traditional treats.
When it came to making my own however, I have found that adding 1 tsp of vanilla extract to the butter, before adding the dry ingredients really gave them a special flavour. All time favorite !!
I made these cookies the other day, they didn’t turn out the way that they should, they spread, weren’t cooked in the middle & were very crumbly. It never happened to me before. I can’t find your cornstarch in your box that you have made for years. Different brands.
I live in Arizona and don’t have Canada Cornstarch. I used Argo brand. I wonder if your butter was too soft.
Can you use this dough in a cookie press?
Yes, you sure can!
Do you use salted butter or unsalted?
I use salted because there is only 1/4 tsp of salt in the recipe. I am sure that unsalted should work fine especially if you’re controlling your salt intake.
I use salted for sure
I am concerned that no one chills the dough before rolling and baking, I am going to try recipe using argo constarch and test batch one chilled and one not chilled
Your last tip is the probably the most important…mix with your hands. My grandmother taught me how to make shortbread and you must kneed the dough until it cracks while kneeding…your welcome!
Honestly, I mixed with my hand mixer, and the dough turned out perfectly.
Didn’t turn out for me, so disappointed. Flat and crumbled into sawdust
I make mine with lavender and chocolate. I cant remember how i came up with it but i made them with lavender in the 90s when some foreign exchange students were staying with a friend. We were going to make a huge batch and send them home with them but most of them got eaten before they left. I made 200 cookies. I made the dough with fresh lavender flowers from the garden and dipped them in chocolate ganache. They were heavenly. I highly suggest trying it.
These were my Moms short bread cookies. They are the best. I use the metal bowls that fit my stand mixer which I use with the kneading paddle. . Never a problem. And sure is faster than kneading by hand. Mom sifted the flour and icing sugar together before adding it to the butter….always unsalted butter. Her butter was always room temp. She also threw in a couple of tablespoons of sprinkles into the batter. Looks very pretty.
Another tip …just double the recipe…one batch far too few.
Have used this recipe since the year I was married.(1980) and would not change a thing. They are always the best seller at Christmas. Our 3adult sons and our wonderful daughters-in-laws each get a batch of shortbread cookies as a gift. Just making memories and a tradition. Thank you for your perfect recipe.
Thanks so much for sharing this. I hadn’t made them in years but went nuts and now stocked for X-mas if they last that long. Easy to make, turned out great and so delicious!
We make these but add 1 tsp. rum which adds just the right flavor. So yummy. We roll them in a ball and press them using a cookie stamp. (and only 3/4 cup shortbread rather than a cup.)
Just like Mom used to make. She’d put half a maraschino cherry on top. She also made ahead of time and kept(hid) them in the cool basement for a couple of weeks. It seemed to help develop more buttery flavour.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I heard you talking about this recipe on CBC Alberta Noon with Judy Aldous. THIS is the recipe my mother made, though I never knew it! I have been looking for this version of shortbread for years. The closest I could find is the Best of Bridge Whipped Shortbread. Also good, but I prefer this. Love the comments and the variations to the recipe.
Thanks For Sharing this Amazing Recipe. My Family Loved It. I will be sharing this Recipe with my Friends. Hope They will like it.
Can you use almond flour instead of regular flour
These cookies are also terrific if left in a ball shape and topped with a glacé cherry. Yum!
I’ve made these. And of the recipes adding a little something…. 1 tap fresh ground cardamom. Mmmm hmmmm. Nearly at the entire bath myself. Just a thought. I’ve rolled into a log. Sliced into scant slices and baked. Mm mm mm mm mm
that sounds great!