My pet shortbread recipe is by Laurie Colwin (clipped from an old Gourmet article, I think), and she calls for 3/4 cup regular flour and 1/4 cup rice flour, saying it's a Scottish trick for crispness. She pats it into a circle on a cookie sheet and scores it; I press the back of an ornate antique spoon into each wedge to pattern it; no need to invert and break the shortbread/one's heart into little pieces. (Oh and it includes vanilla.) I tried upping my game with a round patterned beautiful shortbread pan (not KAF, I think), have brushed melted shortening in it with a pastry brush so carefully that I can't believe spray (which I hate, since it lands on every surface in my kitchen) would cover the nooks and crannies any better---but I have yet to unmold it without DISASTER, despite trying a range of cooling times. Oh well...shortbread in irregular pieces pried from the pan still tastes incredibly delicious with coffee!

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