Ginger Shortbread

5 from 1 vote

Melt in the mouth, gently spiced, buttery ginger shortbread speckled with little pieces of sweet and spicy stem ginger. Very seasonal and truly delicious!

Course Biscuits / Cookies

Cuisine Scottish

Keyword ginger shortbread

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Chilling time 30

Total Time 1 10

Servings cookies

Calories 88kcal

Author Jo Allison

Equipment

Ingredients

115 g vegan block butter - salted or unsalted at room temperature; see notes
50 g caster sugar see notes
150 g plain (all-purpose) flour
25 g cornflour (corn starch) see notes
1 teaspoon ground ginger
30-50 g stem ginger in syrup finely chopped; see notes
pinch of salt if using unsalted butter optional
extra caster sugar for sprinkling on baked cookies optional

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Put room temperature butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat it with hand mixer until pale, light and fluffy.
***Quick Tip*** If you don't have hand mixer you can use stand mixer with paddle attachment or mix it by hand with a wooden spoon.
115 g vegan block butter - salted or unsalted, 50 g caster sugar
Next, sieve flour, cornflour, ground ginger and salt (if using) into a bowl with butter and sugar mixture.
150 g plain (all-purpose) flour, 25 g cornflour (corn starch), 1 teaspoon ground ginger, pinch of salt if using unsalted butter
Start rubbing dry ingredients into the butter mixture with your fingers until it starts coming together in small lumps.
Add chopped stem ginger and mix all of the ingredients together until you are able to form the dough.
30-50 g stem ginger in syrup
Shape it into a log (approximately 17cm/6.7in long, 5cm/2in in diameter), wrap tightly and put in a fridge for 30 minutes.
Towards the end of chilling time preheat the oven to 150°C(Fan)/300°F/Gas Mark 3.
Take the dough out of the fridge and slice it into approx 17-20 rounds.
Place them on baking trays lined with baking paper making sure to leave some space between the rounds.
Bake in preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes (depending on your oven you might want to rotate baking trays half way for even baking).
Once out of the oven, sprinkle your shortbread with some caster sugar (optional) and let it sit on baking trays for a few minutes before transferring onto wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

Nutritional information is approximate, per cookie (based on 20 cookies) and should be treated as a rough guideline only.
When using unsalted butter, I like to add a pinch of salt for extra flavour.
Feel free to use icing sugar instead of caster but not granulated.
Cornflour can be substituted with rice flour or potato starch or if you don't have any, equal amount of plain flour. However, I would recommend adding it as it contributes to lovely, tender texture of shortbread.
I usually use 2 balls of stem ginger in my shortbread but feel free to adjust amount to your liking.
Store in the airtight container for up to 10 days or free for up to 3 months. For more details on freezing baked cookies and raw dough see 🥡 Storing above.

TIPS:

For best results use digital scale when measuring out ingredients for baking.

Don't overwork the dough. Mix it with your hands only until it comes together.

Always chill shortbread dough before baking. Warm dough is prone to spreading.

If you choose to roll the dough out to cut out festive shapes, I would recommend to chill cut out cookies on baking trays for another 15 minutes before baking. If you are cutting the rounds as per this recipe no second chilling is needed.

Keep an eye on your shortbread and adjust baking time as needed as our ovens vary. You want your shortbread to be light golden or even pale.

Shortbread will be a bit soft when it comes out of the oven hence it's important to let it sit on the tray for a couple of minutes before transferring onto wire rack.

Nutrition