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Dessert

Spanish Shortbread

A shortbread cookie with lard, sugar, almonds, lemon zest and juice, flavored with cinnamon and salt.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Spanish Shortbread

Oven325°F (160°C), then 350°F
Time20 minutes, then 5–10 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C) and grease four cookie sheets.

  2. Sift flour and salt into a large bowl.

Make the dough

  1. Beat the lard and sugar in a second large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until creamy.

  2. Add the egg yolks, beating until nicely blended. Then mix in the dry ingredients and lemon zest.

  3. Stir in the ground almonds and lemon juice until blended well. Turn out onto a lightly floured countertop and knead to form a smooth dough.

Shape and bake

  1. Cover with parchment paper, roll out the dough about 1 cm thick, remove the paper, and using a 6 cm cookie cutter cut out 40 cookies. Use a spatula to transfer them to the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them 2.5 cm apart.

  2. Bake one batch at a time for 20 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350°F and bake for 5–10 minutes, or until lightly golden.

  3. Cool on cookie sheets for about 1 minute, then transfer to a cooling rack.

  4. Cool completely and enjoy!

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

722Calories
20 gProtein
20 gFat
114 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cinnamon + almondtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the cookies together after baking.
Lard
Adds fat that makes the cookies tender and crumbly rather than chewy.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the dough and, creamed with the fat, helps give a fine, tender texture.
Egg yolks
Add richness and fat, and help bind the dough.
Finely ground almonds
Add moisture, nutty flavor, and a tender, sandy texture.

The step that matters

Beat the lard and sugar until creamy. Creaming fat and sugar traps air and distributes fat evenly, which sets the tender crumb. Under-beaten fat leaves a dense, uneven texture in the finished shortbread.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, cinnamon, sugar, egg, almond):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cinnamon, sugar, egg, almond. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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