Shortbread not right - sandy

[tb]

I make shortbread to a standard recipe, with sugar:butter:flour in the ration of 1:2:3, but it doesn't turn out right.

I weigh all the ingredients, but somehow it doesn't seem 'solid' enough iyswim. When you bite into it, it has a crumbly texture, not the solid feel of say Walker's shortbread fingers.

Any ideas?

This recipe uses cornflour - try a small amount of plain flour, a little semolina and cornflour.

are you kneading it into a ball before pressing it into the tin? it takes a while but makes it more solid. you could add a tiny bit of water, but i find this can make it go too hard.

have you melted the butter twice?
there is a german recipe of "sandy-cookies" where you melt the butter twice to get a sand-effect.
do you knead the mixture too much? that brings out the gluten and you get soft cookies instead of hard crispy ones.

Thanks for the replies

mm - no I haven't melted the butter twice, I tend to just chuck it all in the Magimix.

rm - no I don't knead it first, I just tip it into the tin and then flatten it with a palette knife.

seq - I do use a little semolina occasionally, but usually only when making caramel shortbread, not sure at the moment if I've got any, or if can get it (live in France). Some things are very hard to find - cream of tartar for example.