Getting Started with Those Fancy Molds
So, I finally got my hands on some of those shortbread molds. Saw them online, thought they looked pretty neat, maybe make the cookies look a bit more special, you know? Mine are the wooden kind, traditional looking. Seemed simple enough.
First thing, mixing up the shortbread dough. I just used my usual recipe, nothing fancy. Maybe slightly chilled it more than usual, thinking it might hold the pattern better. The recipe itself is dead simple: butter, sugar, flour. Can’t really mess that up, right?
Pressing In and Getting Stuck
Okay, here’s where it got interesting. The instructions, or lack thereof, just kind of implied you press the dough in. I dusted the mold with a bit of flour first, hoping that would help it release later. Pushing the dough in wasn’t too bad, had to make sure it got into all the little carved bits. I used my thumbs mostly, trying to get it even.
Getting the dough out though… that was the tricky part. First couple of tries? A bit of a mess. The dough just wanted to stay put. I tried banging the mold on the counter like I saw someone do once. Sometimes it worked, sometimes the dough just broke apart. Frustrating. I found giving it a really sharp, confident rap worked better than gentle tapping. Also, making sure the mold was really well-floured seemed key. Some people say chill the dough in the mold, but I hadn’t tried that yet.
- Flour the mold generously. More than you think you need.
- Press the dough in firmly and evenly.
- Give it a sharp whack on the counter to release. Don’t be shy.
Baking and the Final Look
Once I got a few decent-looking raw cookies out, I put them on the baking sheet. Popped them in the oven, keeping an eye on them. I was worried the pattern might flatten out or disappear during baking. They actually held up reasonably well! The details weren’t super sharp on all of them, especially the ones I struggled to get out of the mold, but you could definitely see the design.
Taste-wise, they were just regular shortbread. Delicious, buttery. The mold doesn’t change the flavor, obviously. But they did look quite nice cooling on the rack. A bit more effort than just rolling and cutting squares, for sure. Was it worth it? Yeah, for special occasions, maybe. They do look impressive when they come out right. It takes a bit of practice, getting the hang of whacking them out without breaking them. Definitely a learning curve compared to just using a cookie cutter.
