Preparation
If you love shortbread like we do, it might be time to think about taking your treats to the next level. By that, we mean using a new take on the traditional shortbread molds used in Scotland, the home of the beloved treat, to imprint your dough with pictures and score it into portions. Decorated shortbreads were used as a bride’s cake, known as a “dreaming bread,” in rural Scotland, says F. Marian McNeil in The Scots Kitchen. The oldest types of molds were made of wood, but a variety of different molds are widely available today. Particularly common are ones that imprint a bold thistle into a round of shortbread dough, though we prefer the contemporary ceramic or aluminum molds, which come in a variety of shapes and a range of designs from Celtic symbols to cute teapots.
To help you master making shortbread in a mold, we asked cookbook author, food stylist, and master baker Jason Schreiber for tips. “Any shortbread recipe that calls for baking in a pan rather than on cookie sheets will work best in a shortbread mold,” he says. His go-to is our Scottish Shortbread recipe because “the dough comes out of the mixer in crumbles like a press-in crust, which not only makes it quick and easy to get into the mold, but it’s also perfectly suited to pick up the impression at the bottom of the mold when you compact the dough.” Schreiber cautions that you’ll want to make sure you’re using the right type of recipe before reaching for a mold. “Using a dough that is intended to be rolled and cut in a cookie mold will be more difficult to compact, and you might end up with unsightly seams where the dough folds over itself at the bottom of the mold.” He also recommends using a recipe that’s appropriately sized for the mold you have, explaining, “If the recipe is too big or too small you’ll end up with excess dough or cookies that are too thin, which will affect the bake time.”
Though shortbread dough is butter-rich, Schreiber recommends prepping detailed cookie molds with nonstick cooking spray in order to guarantee an easy release. And he notes that the material the mold is made out of will affect the bake time and color of the cookies. “Ceramic pans take longer to heat up, but they also hold on to heat longer than metal. The result is that metal molds bake faster, but ceramic molds will bake a bit darker,” he adds.
Best Traditional Design: Emerson Creek Thistle Shortbread PanBest Aluminum Mold: Nordic Ware English Shortbread Pan Best Ceramic Mold: Rose Window Shortbread PanCutest Design: Brown Bag Design Tea Time Shortbread PanMost Unusual Shape: Nordic Ware Sweet Snowflakes Shortbread Pan
