Canadian Maple Shortbread

Submitted by Ranikabani

"This is a variation of Shortbread that has a uniquely Canadian flavour! It is much like the Scottish shortbread with it's rich creamery butter flavour combined with Canada's maple syrup. It requires two separate steps: making the maple butter and making the shortbread. It's an easy recipe to make and I hope you enjoy it."

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 5
• Yields: 36 2inch cookies

ingredients

• Maple butter

• 2⁄3 cup maple syrup (use the real thing!)
• 1 cup butter, at room temperature (use butter, not margarine)

• Shortbread

• 3⁄4 cup maple butter
• 2 cups flour
• 1 pinch salt

directions

1. Maple butter: In a small saucepan, bring the maple syrup to a boil and reduce by half (this should take about 15 minutes) Remove from heat and let it stand at room temp.
2. When it is cool, add the butter and stir or gently whisk until well blended.
3. Place in frigde until firm.
4. This makes about 3/4 cup.
5. Shortbread: In a food processor or blender, combine the maple butter, flour and salt.
6. Use the pulse setting to combine well the ingredients.
7. Take it out of the blender/food processor and shape it into a ball.
8. Flatten it to a disc shape.
9. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until well chilled.
10. Preheat oven to 350F and position rack to centre of oven.
11. Remove dough from the fridge and roll it out to about 1/4 inch thickness.
12. Cut dough into desired shapes (I use a maple leaf shaped cookie cutter... very Canadian, eh?) Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheet and bake until slightly golden brown (about 10-15 min, depending on your oven).

Reviews

[Just Call Me Martha]

These cookies tasted really good, but I did have some problems with the recipe. I think that step #4 is a bit misleading. I ended up with quite a bit more than 3/4 cup of butter-syrup mixture, which, in hindsight, made sense because we are starting with 1 full cup of butter, plus about 1/3 cup of syrup. Anyway, I measured out 3/4 cup, thinking I had done something wrong to end up with so much. I added that amount to the flour etc in the food processor and found that it wasn't nearly enough, so added the entire amount. In the end the cookies were really tasty. I would definitely make them again and urge others to try them as well.

 

[luvcookn]

I too have the same recipe, except that the amount of butter is different. My recipe has only 1/2 cup. I did not have any problems with the dough being sticky.

 

[lilquiz]

This cookie is good and worth revisiting to kick it up a notch. Sweeter than your traditional shortbread and a little more work. I added 1/2 tsp. of maple flavoring when I combined the butter and syrup. Even after chilling this in the freezer for 15-20 minutes, you will need to flour everything it touches when you roll or pat it out.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Useful comments from Just Call Me Martha re: step 4. These were very nice, and not at all difficult. I find it best when baking with maple syrup to use #3 dark syrup as it has a stronger flavour than the more usual medium or light grades.