The little squiggles, sticks and bows made from buttery shortbread have been part of the standard repertoire in our Christmas bakery for a long time. With Grandma's shortbread biscuits recipe, you can recreate the cookies with ease, too!
Taste and Occasion
First and foremost, these are shortbread cookies for the meat grinder or cookie attachment. If you slightly modify the old shortbread biscuits basic recipe (see notes), you can also process the dough with a piping bag. Personally, however, this alternative has brought me from time to time to the brink of a nervous breakdown 😉 . In this respect, we made the butter shortbread cookies again this year with grandma's old food processor.
Ingredients
My husband pressed the dough into the electric meat grinder attachment, my son took the dough strings in receipt and grandma shaped the cookies. Because even though the dough for the machine is more straightforward than the one from the piping bag, many hands do not harm the preparation.
But back to the recipe: meat grinder cookies, it sounds kind of gross. Some manufacturers call the accessory so rather shortbread biscuit or cookie attachment. The foundation of the recipe is similar to my vanilla crescents, kneaded dough with soft butter.
How to make Grandma's Easy Shortbread Biscuits
Let's go. First of all, make a stirred shortcrust pastry from all the ingredients. For this, beat the soft butter with the sugar until fluffy, stir in the egg well. Finally, add flour, starch and almonds. Chill the dough for at least 1 to 1.5 hours.
Then, pass dough in batches through a meat grinder or food processor fitted with a piped pastry attachment. Cut sprayed dough snake into pieces with a sharp knife and shape as desired, e.g., as squiggles, s-biscuits, or small bars. Refrigerate unbaked spritz pastry again for about 10 minutes.
Now it's time to preheat the oven to 350°F/ 175°C. Cover baking sheets with baking paper. Bake the shortbread biscuits for approx. 10-15 minutes, depending on size. Let cool and brush or sprinkle with melted chocolate coating as desired.
Top Tip
If you want to use a piping bag with the dough, you will need a softer mixture. Tend to use only about 150g of flour so that you can pipe the dough. Also, chill for a shorter time before piping.
Recipe Card
Grandma's Easy Shortbread Biscuits
Ingredients
- 250 grams (1 cup) butter, soft
- 150 grams (¾ cup) sugar
- 1 egg, medium
- 200 grams (1 ⅔ cups) all-purpose flour
- 150 grams (1 ¼ cups) cornstarch
- 80 grams (¾ cup) ground almonds
- 150 grams (⅔ cups) chocolate coating coarse quantity, to taste
Instructions
- Make a stirred shortcrust pastry from all the ingredients. For this, beat the soft butter with the sugar until fluffy, stir in the egg well. Finally, add flour, starch and almonds. Chill the dough for at least 1 to 1.5 hours.
- Pass dough in batches through a meat grinder or food processor fitted with a piped pastry attachment. Cut sprayed dough snake into pieces with a sharp knife and shape as desired, e.g., as squiggles, s-biscuits, or small bars. Refrigerate unbaked spritz pastry again for about 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F/ 175°C. Cover baking sheets with baking paper. Bake the shortbread biscuits for approx. 10-15 minutes, depending on size. Let cool and brush or sprinkle with melted chocolate coating as desired.
Notes
- For lemon spritz cookies, add additional 1 teaspoon lemon juice and 1 teaspoon lemon zest.
- For chocolate nut spritz cookies, use 50 g ground hazelnuts instead of almonds. In addition, 50 g cocoa. If you like, add two pinches of cinnamon or ground cardamom.
- Instead of almonds or nuts, finely grated pistachios also taste good. The dough can also be flavored with mocha, the pulp of a vanilla bean or grated chocolate.
Ingredient substitutions
Variations
Grandma's shortbread biscuits with almonds already taste good pure, decorated with chocolate coating or refined with spices and Co. even better. Therefore, I prepared a few alternatives in the notes for you - for example with chocolate nuts. I hope you like the delicious cookies. Made without the use of muscles and a nervous breakdown. Delicious, what do you think 😉 ?
About Kathrin & Jan
It's like a little miracle to me every time. Seemingly simple ingredients are made into something that can brighten up your life. Butter, sugar, eggs, and flour melt into an airy biscuit, a fine tart, a juicy cake, or a crispy biscuit. Baking simply makes you happy. Welcome and enjoy our blog!
Kathrin & Jan
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