Lemon Pecan Shortbread

So Sunday night at a Superbowl party, we tried a lemon Girl Scout cookie. Husband mentioned later that he'd really liked it. So I said, okay, I'll make you some lemon cookies that are better!

So, I did a search for lemon shortbread on Epicurious.com and found this recipe to start with:

Lemon Shortbread
Bon Appétit August 2001

The secret to tender shortbread — a classic Scottish treat — is not overworking the dough.

Yield: Makes 24 wedges

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Preheat oven to 300°F. Blend first 5 ingredients in processor. Add butter; cut in using on/off turns until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Press 1 dough half onto bottom of each of two 8-inch-diameter cake pans. Pierce dough all over with fork.

Bake until cooked through and pale golden, about 40 minutes. Cool shortbread in pans on racks 5 minutes. Cut each warm shortbread in pan into 12 wedges. Cool completely. Using spatula, carefully transfer to platter. (Can be made up to 4 days ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)


And here is what I actually did:

Lemon Pecan Shortbread

1 1/2 cups "white whole wheat" flour (It's all I had on hand. Gave it a pleasantly "Digestive" quality)
2/3 cup sugar (I ran out of turbinado sugar, so used half that & half white)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp lemon extract
grated lemon peel (I don't know how much, I just denuded two lemons with my Microplane zester/grater)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I put it back in the fridge after I cut it up so it would be really cold when I added it)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

I am a butter snob, I used Kerrygold from Ireland. If you can't get it, Falfurrias from Texas is actually just about as good. Recipes always call for unsalted butter, then have you add salt. So I just use salted butter and don't add salt.

Preheat oven to 300°F. Blend first 5 ingredients in processor. Add butter and pecans; cut in using on/off turns until moist clumps form. Don't over-process! Gather dough into ball; press into 9x12 pyrex pan.

Bake until cooked through and pale golden, about 40 minutes. Cool shortbread in pan on racks 5 minutes. Cut warm shortbread in pan into squares. Cool completely. Using spatula, carefully transfer to platter. (Can be made up to 4 days ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)

They were even better the next day, the lemon flavor was even more pronounced. Yum!