Shortbread Cookies Dex+

This is a nice, plain, crumbly, not-too-sweet Dex+ shortbread cookie. I used these on Halloween to dip in caramel and chocolate fondue. They also work well for making a home-made version of Twix. To get the crispest, "short-est" cookie, the dextrose (technically dextrose monohydrate) is baked first to drive off the water, changing it to anhydrous dextrose. 

Because most of the flavor comes from the browning of butter, consider using a high-quality imported butter.

Shortbread Cookies Dex+

Based on King Arthur Flour's shortbread recipe.

Ingredients

• 96 g dextrose (87 g anhydrous dextrose)
• 23 g confectioners' sugar
• 20 g Benefiber or similar
• 227 g (2 sticks ) salted butter, at cool room temperature*
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, optional
• 241 g King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

*This is a good time to use a top-quality butter like Cabot.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175°F. Spread the dextrose monohydrate onto a cooking sheet, then bake for 2 hours. It is now anhydrous dextrose. Once cooled, blend in a blender or food processor until very very fine and powdery.
2. Preheat the oven to 300 °F. Prepare a 13 x 9 baking pan: use a pan with removable bottom or line a regular pan with aluminum foil. Spray the foil/pan with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Mix together the dextrose, sugar, and fiber, and set aside.
4. In a mixer, beat butter until soft, then mix in extracts. Add the sugar mixture to the butter and beat them together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
5. 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.
6. Press the dough into the prepared pan, smoothing the surface with your fingers, or with a mini rolling pin.
7. 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.
8. Bake the shortbread until it's a deep golden brown across the top surface, about 40 minutes.
9. Using a pizza wheel or sharp knife, cut into desired sized bars. (Do this while the shortbread is still warm; if you wait until it's cool, it won't cut easily.) Transfer the to a rack to cool.