HARD or SOFT?

[IrishLake]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Shortbread is neither hard nor soft. If it is perfect, it exists in a state of tension between the two - bottom is firmer, but top is buttery soft. It should literally melt in your mouth.

Now I need cookies and the house is currently cookie-free.

Fuck me, I would kill for a Panera shortbread cookie right now.

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Exactly! And that state of tension between the two is what I'm calling crisp. They're hard enough that there's a snap when you break them, but soft enough that there's no crunch when you chew them. If you have a better word than "crisp," I'm open to suggestions.

To me, crisp = crunch. There is no "crunch" in what Belle described. When talking about a good shortbread cookie, I would call it firm, or perhaps dense. But crisp or hard.... no. They might be cohesive enough so that there is that snap when you break it in half, but the texture is not crispy nor crunchy.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by IrishLake

Fuck me, I would kill for a Panera shortbread cookie right now.

To me, crisp = crunch. There is no "crunch" in what Belle described. When talking about a good shortbread cookie, I would call it firm, or perhaps dense. But crisp or hard.... no. They might be cohesive enough so that there is that snap when you break it in half, but the texture is not crispy nor crunchy.

I'll grant that crisp may not be the best word for cookies that aren't hard or soft. As I said earlier, I'm open to alternatives. Like you said with shortbread, it's not hard, but it's not soft either or it wouldn't snap.

I can think of lots of crisp things that aren't crunchy though.

But store-bought shortbread? Pale imitations.