TWD Hungarian Shortbread

It's confession time.  I've made different shortbreads multiple times but I have never been a big fan.  Which is a little ironic because I'm not a big fan of store bought cookies, but I love store bought shortbread.  So when it was announced that our next recipe was going to be Hungarian Shortbread I wasn't exactly thrilled.  I should have been.

Maybe I messed up on the recipe but this was unlike any other shortbread I have had.

And it was fantastic.

My experience with shortbread has been very dry.  It typically turns to dust in my mouth and leaves me reaching for water as I choke.  I cooked this for an extra five minutes because it had not yet turned golden, but yet it is slightly undercooked.  The texture I would compare more to a cobbler than shortbread.  It was so moist that in a few places the powdered sugar I sprinkled on top after cooking turned into almost a glaze.  I also deviated from the recipe in that I used a homemade sugar free strawberry jam because I didn't want to search for rhubarb to make the jam that the recipe called for.

I found the method for making the shortbread very intriguing.  After the dough was made the recipe had you place the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes and then grate the frozen dough into the pan.  I left in in the freezer for close to an hour.  It was almost frozen all the way through but it was a little soft in the middle.  The soft part was hard to grate of course but otherwise I think this method works great.

So was it the ingredients, or the method that made such yummy shortbread.  Or more likely a combination of the two.  I will try grating frozen dough in other recipes and see how it works out.  You can fine the recipe here or here or of course in Baking with Julia.

I posted this recipe the day I made it.  Now a few days later I am adding an addendum.  Though the recipe is still good it is moving down on my list of recipes to remake.  It is so rich and it made so much we are not going to be able to finish off the pan.  Be warned!