Busters Recipes

Shortbread

2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter (no substitutes) cold from the fridge
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Cut the butter into small pieces, handling it as little as possible
to prevent it from softening. The colder the butter remains, the
crispier the shortbread will be. Place pieces in a bowl and pour
sugar on top. Work butter and sugar together well using a pastry
blender or a pair of knives only. Again, don't touch the butter
if you can help it. When it's well worked-in, mix the flour,
cornstarch and salt together *thoroughly* in a separate bowl and
pour over the butter-sugar mix. Work into the butter mix with the
pastry blender. This takes considerable strength, primarily because
you'll be doing it for a minimum of 5 minutes and possibly longer.
The mixture is ready when the butter is cut into extremely fine
particles -- the whole thing should look like a heavy baking mix
and should hold together if you squeeze a portion of it in your
hand. It will hold together, but it won't resemble dough in any
sense of the word.

Grease and flour your baking pans -- I used an 11x15 jelly roll
pan. Press the mixture firmly into the pan to an even depth of
one half inch. Place in oven for 30 seconds, remove and prick
all over with a fork, then score it where you intend to cut it
later. If you don't do this, it will fuse as a solid mass and you
won't be able to do anything but break it into irregular pieces
later. Put back into the oven and continue baking for a total
baking time of 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, turn heat down to 350
degrees and continue baking for up to 30 minutes more, checking
every 5 minutes. When it turns light golden brown, it's done. My
oven is a bit on the hot side, so I only back another 10 minutes
beyond the first 5. Remover from oven to a cooling rack.

Sprinkle with additional granulated sugar. With a sharp knife,
re-cut the shortbread along the scored lines while it is still hot.
Cool, eat. It's very light, very crisp and should melt on the
tongue. Yummy. I serve mine with fresh strawberries on the stem
for a supper dessert.