Surprise shortbread

I haven't been well for a couple of weeks and my appetite is pretty much nil. I surprised myself today by suddenly feeling the urge to bake shortbread. This is most unusual, considering:

• I've eaten the equivalent of half a meal a day for the past two weeks and still felt bloated and ill;
• I haven't eaten shortbread in years;
• I've never baked it in my life. I vaguely recall making some shortbread-type things with fancy cookie cutters as a child, but don't think it was actually shortbread.

A Google search found a quite a few recipes, which varied vastly in terms of ingredients, methods, cooking times, etc. I took a stab and picked this NZ recipe, which conveniently uses a food processor and doesn't require creaming butter. I found the instructions to be quite ambiguous, so here it is in plain English.

Café Chick's surprise shortbread

Ingredients

• 150g chilled butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup cornflour
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 tbsp caster sugar to sprinkle later
  

Method

1. Place all ingredients into a food processor bowl. Process gently until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, then continue processing until crumbs hold together. (Approximately 10 minutes)
2. Using a 20cm spring form tin (round), line base with baking paper. Tip dough into tin and press evenly onto base.
3. Remove outside ring before placing on oven tray. Using a sharp knife, mark dough into 12 wedges without cutting through. Prick at regular intervals with a fork.
4. Sprinkle over extra sugar.
5. Bake at 150 degrees Celsius for 50-60 minutes. Check to see if the shortbread is browning too quickly and lower temperature, if necessary.
6. While still warm, slide onto a board (removing base and baking paper) and finish cutting into wedges. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
7. Store in an airtight container.