Who ever heard of baking a dessert in a cast-iron skillet? You have now! The heavy pan ensures that the shortbread cooks evenly to a beautiful pale color top and bottom.
Ingredients
serves 101 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup sliced almonds with skins
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 10-inch cast-iron skillet with aluminum foil and spray the foil with cooking spray. Alternatively, place a circle of parchment paper in the bottom of the skillet, then lightly grease or oil the paper.
Step 2
In a large mixing bowl, stir 1 1/2 cups of the sugar into the melted butter. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift the flour and salt onto the batter. Add the flavoring and stir well. Pour the batter into the skillet. Top with the sliced almonds and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Bake for 35 minutes, or until slightly brown on top. Cool the shortbread in the skillet. When cool, use the foil to lift the shortbread from the skillet; remove the foil before serving. If you have used the parchment liner instead, run a sharp knife around the sides of the shortbread and invert the pan to remove it; peel off the parchment paper.
From Beth
Step 3
My friend Phyllis brought this to our girls-only beach trip last year. It became an instant hit. It’s a great leftover … if there’s any left over!Reprinted with permission from Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen: Recipes from My Family to Yours by Trisha Yearwood with Gwen Yearwood and Beth Yearwood Bernard. Copyright © 2008 by Trisha Yearwood. Published by Crown Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.Trisha Yearwood is a three-time Grammy-award winning country music star and the author of the bestselling cookbook Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen. She is married to megastar Garth Brooks.