Expert: Elyse Grau - 7/25/2009

Question
I have been tweeking a shortbread recipe to 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup rice flour, 1/4 cup cornstarch to achieve a light but crunchy cookie. I still think it tastes too much like flour. Yes, I am using real butter 1 cup. Also, I want to use them with a cookie cutter. So far I tried to chill the dough, roll dough, chill again and cut. Too hard to handle so I will add another chill after cutting. Any other tips?

Answer
Cheryl:

I'm not sure what chilling again will achieve. Rice flour makes for a very crumbly dough, maybe you don't need it with the cornstarch? Why is the dough hard to handle? Is it too soft? Sticky? Crumbly?
As for the flavor, you might try adding some lemon zest or vanilla.

Elyse