Shortbread is a wonderful starting point for all kinds of sweet adventures: top it (nuts, chocolate, jam); flavor it (lemon, hazelnut, coconut); or do both (cappuccino with a mocha ganache drizzle, anyone?). Then again, if you're a "make mine vanilla, please" kind of guy or gal, leave it alone; it can stand on its own in perfect simplicity.
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Lightly grease two round 9" cake pans. If you worry about the shortbread possibly sticking in your particular pans, line them with parchment, and grease the parchment.
In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla, and almond extract, then beat in the flour. The mixture may seem a little dry at first; keep beating till it comes together. If it absolutely won't come together, dribble in up to 1 tablespoon of water, until it does. This is a stiff dough.
Divide the dough in half (if you have a scale, each half will weigh about 300g), and press each half into one of the prepared pans, smoothing the surface with your fingers, or with a mini rolling pin.
Use a fork to prick the dough all over; this allows any steam to escape, and prevents the shortbread from bubbling as it bakes. Prick the dough in a random pattern, but it looks nicer pricked with some kind of symmetry.
Bake the shortbread until it's a light golden brown across the top surface, and a deeper golden brown around the edges, about 35 minutes.
Remove it from the oven, and immediately turn each shortbread round out onto a clean work surface.
Using a pizza wheel or sharp knife, cut each round into 12 wedges. (Do this while the shortbread is still warm; if you wait until it's cool, it won't cut easily.) Transfer the shortbread wedges to a rack to cool.
Serve as is, or decorate. Here are a few suggestions:
Drizzle with melted caramel;
Spread with melted chocolate, and sprinkle with nuts;
Set aside two shortbread cookies, and spread the remainder of the cookies with a thick layer of jam or preserves. Crumble the reserved cookies, and sprinkle the crumbs lightly over the jam.
Looking for a gluten-free version of this recipe? Find it here: Gluten-Free Shortbread.
Vary the flavor of your shortbread with the following simple additions.
For ginger shortbread: Add 1/3 cup finely diced crystallized ginger and 1 teaspoon ginger.
For butter-pecan shortbread: Add 1/8 teaspoon butter-rum flavor and 1 cup finely diced toasted pecans.
For chai-spiced shortbread: Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon crushed cardamom, and 1/8 teaspoon cloves.
To give your shortbread festive flavor for the holidays, omit the almond extract and add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon eggnog flavor and a pinch of grated nutmeg to the dough.
