Back to baking: Mark Bittman's shortbread cookies

Video: Mark Bittman’s simple, tasty shortbread cookies

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   >>> is in the current recipe of the "new york times" mag scene. mark is also the author of "how to cook everything, the basics" and 340 other books.

   >> 341.

   >> short bread in its most basic form is a cookie, what is it?

   >> it is a cookie and a very short cookie, and short means lots of fat.

   >> why does short mean lots of fat?

   >> some old english thing, don't want to go there, like etymology.

   >> one of the things i notice is if you're making basic shortbread, very few ingredients.

   >> really what it is is butter and sugar held together by as little flour as you can manage to turn it into a cookie so that what you're tasting is butter and sugar.

   >> the recipe is really easy.

   >> the whole thing is really easy.

   >> okay. creamed butter. we add some sugar.

   >> fair amount of sugar.

   >> and an egg yolk, and there's some salt in here, too.

   >> okay. i like these a little bit salty. just that tiny bit of saveriness is great. and then you cream that a little more. cream the sugar with the butter. obviously a standing mixer makes this very easy, and when that's mixed, you add a little at a time, and we'll try to do it a little at a time because i think we have time for that. you add a mixture of flour and corn starch and the reason you use --

   >> the consistency you are looking for flaky and light like dense that i had some in london, pretty dense.

   >> pretty dense, because there's a lot of fat in there. it's really an excuse to eat butter, really an excuse to be eating butter. the reason you add a little corn starch is because what you want is to develop as little gluten as possible. you don't want any toughness. you want it to be as tender as it can be.

   >> all right.

   >> so once we have the basic recipe, now you can actually get a little bit more creative and add some different flavors, and have you some examples of those here.

   >> you can obviously add -- if you add pecans you have pecan sandies, so any kind of nuts, make savory shortbreads so olive oil and rosemary and parmesan and black pepper . this is a paper towel and poppy seed with a little bit of lemon. espresso and chocolate, anything you can, and your favorite here, coconut and lime.

   >> i'm not a big coconut fan.

   >> but if you're adding different flavors, especially the savories, do you change the recipe?

   >> stays the same.

   >> adding olive oil , cut the butter by a little bit but stays the same.

   >> now you have your shortbread dough. how do you work it?

   >> you have the dough and it into a long and get fancier and shape it into a triangle. feel that, i mean, it's really hard.

   >> if you have a -- a log, like this, and then you can just cut cookies, youno know, real like the mixes you pie in a store, and these are keep in the freezer forever.

   >> you can do the circular log as well.

   >> or can you roll it out.

   >> need to soften it a bit before you roll it out and cut it with a knife like that or use a cookie cutter.

   >> all right. you put it on a baking pan , a creased baking pan ?

   >> because there's so much butter in here you don't need any -- you don't need any more grease.

   >> how long does it cook?

   >> 20 minutes or so, 15 even.

   >> here's what they look like when they are done, and then you add a little more zest to them.

   >> another thing you can do is melt some chocolate, and just dip like that, and that will set up in ten minutes, or you can fridge rate that and beautiful.

   >> you know what the best way to eat them is, just plain?

   >> i like the plain ones, too.

   >> you should try one of the savory once.

   >> mark bittman , good to see

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