If you like shortbread, you simply have to try this. I am having immense trouble staying out of it. I could, quite literally, eat the entire cookie in one sitting… and it should serve twelve. It is so buttery and has just the right touch of sweetness. This is not your traditional white sugar and flour shortbread. The sugar is dark brown giving it a deeper and richer flavor than most shortbread. The flour is a combination of freshly milled hard white wheat and oat groats, which gives the cookie an ever so slight crunch and almost nutty flavor. The Wondermill grain mill makes the flour a breeze. Just turn it on, pour in the grain, and out comes flour – perfectly milled fresh flour in minutes! For these cookies, I used the pastry setting. And, the rest of the cookie is easy too. Making it in an iron skillet eliminates the need to roll and cut out cookies.
The recipe calls for unsalted butter. Use the highest quality you can find and afford. It really does make a difference and in a cookie this buttery, it makes a big difference. I used a European style butter, which I think is particularly good. When the cookie first gets cool enough to touch, it will be quite crumbly, but by the next day, it will hold together easily… that is, if you can wait that long. It is really hard not to eat it all while it is still warm. Hope you enjoy!
- 1 cup plus 2 Tbsps. unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1½ cups hard white wheat flour (preferably freshly milled
- 1 cup oat flour (freshly milled oat groats)
- 3 Tbsps. rolled oats
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Let skillet sit in the hot oven until dough is made.
- Cream together butter and brown sugar, until well combined and fluffy.
- Add salt and vanilla, and mix until well combined.
- Add flours, ½ cup at a time, mixing after each addition.
- Take skillet out of the oven.
- Butter with remaining 2 Tbsps. butter.
- Press dough into the pan. Be careful, the pan is hot.
- Sprinkle rolled oats on top.
- Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until cookie is beginning to brown around the edges and is almost set in the middle.
- Allow to cool before serving.
