Douglas Shortbread Cookies

By Leslie Blythe Cookies, Dessert Baking

March 18, 2021

My friend Melanie made these absolutely phenomenal cookies. The brilliance of the recipe is the simplicity of ingredients. The term “short” in shortbread refers to the type of dough, which is very tender and high in fat. This makes for a particularly crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth cookie that is satisfying without being too rich. The recipe is from Fäviken: 4015 Days, Beginning to End, by Magnus Nilsson, who was the head chef at the legendary restaurant Fäviken in Sweden until it closed in December of 2019. The recipe came from the grandmother of his first employee, Douglas Tjärnhammar-Alm. You can read about these cookies on Bloomberg.

By the way, she told me to bring the leftovers to my Dad (yeah, right!).

Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 15 mins
Yields: Makes about 36 cookies

Ingredients

3¾ cups flour 

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar 

1 tablespoon baking powder

 Large pinch of salt (optional) 

2½ sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature 

2 large fresh eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

 Your favorite jam, preferably homemade

Directions

1Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line 2 or 3 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

2Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, if using, with the butter. Knead with your hands or beat at low speed with an electric mixer until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs and mix just until combined.

3Shape dough into small balls, around 1 inch wide, and arrange on prepared baking sheets; if necessary, you can bake the cookies in batches.. Flatten the balls slightly, then make an indentation in each one with your finger. Fill the indentation with jam and bake for about 12 minutes, until golden brown. Eat them when they’re warm.

Recipe from Fäviken: 4015 Days, Beginning to End, by Magnus Nilsson.

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