These Butter Cookie Planks are the perfect balance of buttery, sweet, crispy, and crumbly, made with only 5 ingredients!
I am not sure what I did. I started the process with the intention of making shortbread cookies, but then I went on some sort of autopilot and approached the recipe like I would for any cookie. So, the result wasn’t shortbread, but also didn’t really match any cookies I knew. Which led me to the name of Butter Cookie Planks.
They are effectively butter cookies, but that didn’t sound official enough for me. I didn’t want to go with rectangles for the name either because that felt boring. Which meant that the thesaurus was coming out. The one word that jumped out at me was planks. Not sure why, I just liked the way it sounded.
As I was baking the cookies, everything felt relatively fine until they came out of the oven. And I knew I had done something strange that wasn’t the shortbread I intended. This came from two deviations. One, I used the wrong type of sugar, and two, I did not use the right mixing method. While I have baked a lot of cookies, going into autopilot is not always going to get the best (or right) results.
But! I did have quite the adventure baking this shortbread-like, not shortbread cookie. Interestingly, cookie principles can reach across cookie types to make something yummy even if not the intended result.
Check out the Make section of MCG for more fun recipes like desserts and savory dishes.
Ingredients
These Butter Cookie Planks have very few ingredients. I used flour, unsalted butter, salt, cornstarch, and sugar. The recipe can be reduced to only 4 ingredients if using salted butter, then the salt isn’t needed. I just never have salted butter in my kitchen, so it’s something I work around. The deviation from shortbread occurred with the sugar. There are many different granularities of sugar and quite a few descriptors that vary across localities.
Process
The Dough
The first step for the butter cookie planks is making the dough. Since this is more of a butter cookie and less of a shortbread, I used a more traditional base for the cookie. I creamed together the butter and sugar to make them light and fluffy. There is no leavening agent for the butter cookie planks. That’s part of the reason that they are dense and crumbly. But I still wanted to encourage a medium density, so whipping air into the dough felt like the best way to accomplish that.
Then I added cornstarch. I wanted to beat the batter to a point where I just barely couldn’t see the powders anymore. Too much mixing would result in removing the air that I had just put into the butter. I feel that half of the work in making cookie dough is avoiding undoing work previously done.
Finally, I added the flour and salt and mixed the dough into a ball. Again, I stopped mixing the second I stopped seeing powder.
Shaping and Baking
The most interesting part of making these butter cookie planks for me was shaping the dough. I started with a ball of dough. The dough is extremely fun to play with. Granted, I probably shouldn’t move it too much, but I do like to play.
A used a flat surface to turn the dough ball into a disc and then rolled it out to ¼ inch thickness. I decided to use the edges of the baking sheet as my limiter. It worked fine, but it did cause some weird edges in places. I retrospect, putting the dough in the center of the baking sheet would have been just as efficient. I used a fork to make a pattern on the top and a pizza knife to cut the dough into rectangles.
Then all that’s left to do is bake! It’s only a 15-minute bake, but I do watch these butter cookie planks quite intently. I wanted them to be just golden brown. And I do mean just. I wouldn’t mind the cookies coming out on the pale side so long as they are fully cooked.
Reflections
The texture of these butter cookie planks was unexpected. I was expecting a crumbly and dense cookie. Which is what I got but somehow the dough baked almost as if it was laminated. It was dense and crumbly and had layers. Or at least, that is what it felt like when I ate it. While I might be more inclined to make shortbread cookies, I will keep this recipe in my back pocket. It hits a similar tone, but I think this one is a simpler recipe.
Lessons
What is Cornstarch?
While I was baking, I found myself wondering, “Why am I adding cornstarch?” But before we can get into the why, I decided to start at the what. Cornstarch is a powder made from the endosperm of corn kernels. Unlike my initial instinct (which was thinking it could be some sort of leaven), Cornstarch is often used as a thickening agent.
This made a lot of sense because the dishes I normally use cornstarch on are sauces and soups. But to my surprise, not only does it act as a thickening agent, but it is also what helps with the crumbly texture which is why its perfect for making shortbread… or butter cookie planks.
recipe
Butter Cookie Planks
Ingredients
- ½ Cup Cornstarch
- ½ Cup Sugar
- 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
- ¾ Cup Unsalted Butter softened
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- Powdered Sugar optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325° Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with silicone mat or parchment.
- In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fully.
- Add cornstarch and mix until fully combined.
- Add Salt and All-Purpose Flour. Mix until fully combined.
- Roll dough into a large ball. Press between two sheets of parchment paper or silicone mats to make the ball into a disk.
- Using a rolling pin, spread the dough into a square that fits inside of the baking sheet.
- With a roller cutter (if able, a knife will also work), Cut butter cookies into rectangles. Use a fork to create patterns.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from the oven and let cookies rest on baking sheet for 5 minutes until transferring to a cooling rack.
- Optional. Sprinkle with powdered sugar to taste.
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