Whisky and walnut shortbread
My new recipe for indulgent and sophisticated whisky and walnut shortbread is marvellous. Earthy and rich whisky flavour combined with bitter walnut and dark chocolate. If you like whisky, you will not be able to say no to these beauties. You need 6 ingredients to make this eggless and vegetarian sweet treat.
How to make whisky and walnut shortbread
Everybody is saying that making a good shortbread is easy. I disagree with this statement. Making a good shortbread may seem easy but actually it requires certain knowledge and understanding of ingredients.
Many recipes are saying just mix butter with sugar and then add flour and bake. Well, please read the below tips. They will help you to avoid all the issues while making a great shortbread.
TIPS:
- BUTTER: In order to make the best shortbread you need to use the best butter. Not margarine, or any other butter substitute. Real butter at its best. I used salted butter in this recipe. If you can not find salted butter, you can use unsalted but add 1/4 tsp of table salt. The buttery indulgent taste comes from real butter, this is it.
- SUGAR: Traditional Scottish shortbread is made with standard white granulated sugar. I also used this type of sugar in this recipe. It works like a charm and is easily available everywhere. Using white granulated sugar makes shortbread airy and light but not powdery.
- FLOUR: As simple as it may be in order to make a good shortbread, you need to use a soft flour. If you did not know flour can be soft, hard or medium.
- Hard flour has a high protein content and has a good ability to form gluten. It is perfect to make bread.
- Soft flour has a low protein content and lower ability to create strong gluten. This flour is also called pastry flour or cake flour. It makes baked goods more flaky than doughy. For any shortbread recipe soft flour is the best option.
- Medium flour, also called AP flour – it is a mix of soft and hard flour and is the most commonly available in supermarkets.
Fort his recipe, apart from the 3 standard shortbread ingredients I have also used :
4. WALNUTS: taste walnuts before using them and make sure they are not stale and rancid. Toast nuts, it will help to release more flavour.
5. WHISKY: I used Scottish whisky in this recipe, if you do not have access to Scottish whisky, use American bourbon.
6. DARK CHOCOLATE: use good quality dark chocolate. It is important that when you melt chocolate, you need to let it cool down before adding whisky. If you add whisky to hot chocolate the mixture will split. You can fix. Just let the mixture cool down and then add a teaspoon or 2 teaspoons of water. Then mix.
HANDLING THE DOUGH – to make shortbread dough, I always use my hands. I rub butter and sugar together until combined. Then I add whisky, ground walnuts and flour. I rub all the ingredients together. The whole secret is not to overwork the dough. Overworked dough means cakey and tough shortbread due to formation of gluten. We do not want it.
THICKESS AND SHAPING: I used 27cm x 18cm (11inches x 7inches) cake tin. It gave me optimal thickness. Not too thick and not too thin. I would say that they are 1 cm (0.39inch) thick. I have not tested this recipe for cut out cookies, so can not recommend it.
What does whisky and walnut shortbread taste like?
These shortbread triangles are phenomenal. They have very sophisticated flavour that comes from earthy whisky flavour, bitter walnuts and richness of whisky and dark chocolate drizzle. The texture is obviously different from a standard shortbread as I have replaced some flour with toasted ground walnuts. Shortbread is dense and more chewy but still buttery and crumbly.
How to store whisky and walnut shortbread
Store shortbread at room temperature in a cookie jar or a cookie tin. You can also freeze it for up to 6 months. In order to defrost shortbread, just take it out of the freezer and leave it at room temperature for an hour. It defrosts like a charm.
If you are looking for more shortbread recipes, I can recommend you the following:
Coffee and chocolate chunks shortbread
Chocolate and chili shortbread
Click this link to see the best shortbread recipes
I hope you will make my recipe and if you do, please leave a comment below and let me know your feedback. You can also find me on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Gab and Gettr. Please say hi and do not forget to tag me in if you make my recipe. I love seeing your creations.
Recipe source – my own
Enjoy!
This 6 ingredient recipe for whisky and walnut shortbread will blow your mind. If you like boozy desserts and whisky especially you should check out this recipe.
- 225 g butter (salted, room temperature)
- 150 g walnuts (toasted)
- 170 g flour (ideally soft flour, also called pastry flour or cake flour, if you can not find it, you can also use AP flour)
- 70 ml whisky (I used Scottish)
- 120 g sugar (white, granulated)
- 50 g chocolate (dark, finely chopped and melted)
- 1 tsp whisky (about 5 ml)
Please read post above. It includes tips and useful information.
Prepare baking tin, I used rectangular baking tin 27cm x 18cm (11inches x 7inches). Set aside.
In a medium bowl add sugar and butter, rub together with your hands for about 8 minutes.
Toast walnuts and grind them in a food processor.
Add whisky to the butter mixture. Next add ground walnuts and flour. Rub all ingredients together until crumbs start to form. It is important, do not knead the dough or work it for too long. If you overwork dough shortbread will be doughy.
Preheat oven to 175C fan (347F).
Transfer shortbread dough to the prepared baking tin and press it firmly.
Bake shortbread for about 35 minutes until golden on edges. Check after 20-25 minutes how shortbread looks like as every oven is different.
When shortbread is ready, remove it from oven and cut into triangle shapes or fingers shapes. It is the best to cut shortbread while it is hot. Let it to cool down completely.
Melt chocolate and let it cool down. When chocolate is cold but still pourable slowly add 1 tsp of whisky. Mix until the mixture is unified.
Drizzle it on shortbread and let it set.