From Vicki Delany: Jayne Wilson, part owner and head baker at Ms. Hudson’s Tea Room, is hired to cater a traditional Victorian country house weekend for a Sherlock Holmes gathering in the seventh book in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series A Three Book Problem. She intends to pull out all the stops in making the meals perfect. The dessert at the Saturday night banquet is a trifle, and she accompanies that with slices of delicious buttery shortbread made in the English style. In her hunt for the perfect recipe, she found this one, which is supposedly the recipe they use for shortbread at Buckingham Palace. Jayne has seen several different recipes that apparently are the ones favoured by the queen, so she takes take that claim with a pinch of salt. However, they are made in her kitchen, so that’s just as good. Right?
In a stand mixer set on medium speed, beat the butter until creamy. Beat in the granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary.
On low speed, add the flour mixture in two or three additions until it forms a soft dough. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
On a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, roll the dough out to a 3/4-inch-thick slab, Transfer, parchment and all, to the baking sheet and bake until lightly golden and firm to the touch, about 40 minutes.
Slip the parchment paper with the shortbread onto a hard surface.
Immediately sprinkle the shortbread heavily with the confectioners' sugar. While still warm, cut the shortbread into 1- or 1 ½-inch pieces. Let cool completely.
https://cinnamonsugarandalittlebitofmurder.com