Candied Ginger Shortbread

I love the ease of slice and bake cookies, and you can do almost anything with this type of cookie. My only limitation is that I don’t like these cookies to have large chunks or nuts or similar things as that can make them impossible to cut. I figured that candied ginger wouldn’t be too difficult to cut, so I made the dough for these to have it ready to go.

I have used many different types of candied or crystallized ginger. Most commonly, I buy it in pieces and then I have to dice it up. Dicing up candied ginger is very difficult, and your knife gets sticky, and it’s just a mess. I took a ginger baking class through King Arthur Flour and they used mini diced ginger and it is just perfect. It’s already chopped, and it is the perfect size for baking. I can’t recommend this enough if you like to bake with ginger.

This dough is so simple and it can be assembled in minutes. Shaping the dough isn’t bad, as I don’t worry too much about the length of the cylinders and just the diameter. It all works out in the end. I was able to slice these cookies and fit them all on two baking sheets. They baked fine, but hardly browned at all. I have not baked items at 275 before, and I wonder if a somewhat warmer oven for less time would be better. I know I don’t want a shortbread to bake at too hot of temperature, but these took a long time!

Candied Ginger Shortbread
1 cup butter, room temperature
½ cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1.5 cups flour
½ cup cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup finely chopped candied/crystallized ginger

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium until light. Stir in the egg yolk, then gradually add the flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in the candied ginger with a spatula.

Davide the dough into two halves and shape each half into a cylinder about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap the cylinders in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Heat the oven to 275 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Remove the dough cylinders from the refrigerator and discard the plastic wrap. Slice the dough into disks about 13” thick and place on the prepared baking sheets. Reshape the cookies into a round shape if necessary.

Bake for about 30-32 minutes, until barely browned on the bottom. Cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from A Farmgirl’s Dabbles