Unwrap the dough and throw the cling wrap in the bin (or recycle it – whatever). You will now need to roll the dough out so that you can cut shapes into it. “BUT HOW?! IT’S SO CRUMBLY OH GOD!” you cry. Yes, shortbread is crumbly, and it’s a little bit fickle to roll out. But it is doable!

Pull out a sheet of baking paper. This will function as your ‘roll-out-dough-and-cut-it’ surface. If you have a chopping board, you can use that too. A chopping board might actually be better, but I wouldn’t know – I only have one of those crazy round chopping boards found in Chinese BBQ meat slaughterhouses.

To prevent your dough from sticking to the chopping board/baking paper, dust it with icing sugar.

You won’t be able to immediately use a rolling pin on the dough because it will fall apart and this whole baking adventure will end in tears. Use your hands to flatten the dough a bit, making sure that you keep pushing the edges in. This sounds confusing, but it will make sense when you are doing it. Shortbread is so crumbly that when you try to flatten it, the edges will crack and want to break off. Use your hands to hold it together.

Once you get it this flat, you can use the rolling pin. Your dough should be around half a centimetre thick.

Your cooking adventure will, inevitably, encounter a few small hiccups. For example, the above image shows a block of dough that has decided to detach itself from the Queen dough. Don’t worry about this – it will happen a lot. The good news is that you can save up all the bits that have fallen off and roll them into a new ball!

Step 7. Cut, cut, cut!

You can use a knife for this step – I used a spatula. Cut out rectangle blocks and transfer the blocks onto a baking tray (preferably one that is lined with baking paper so that the shortbread doesn’t stick to it).

Cut some triangles! I know these don’t look like Triforces yet, and they don’t look delicious either. Be patient! After you bake them you can decorate them AND they will be scrumptious. Promise.

For fun, I decided to use the rest of the dough to make Pac-Man cookies! For this, you’ll need a round glass or cookie cutter. I used a shot glass.

Thanks Lyn and Bob, whoever you are!

Place shot glass above dough. Push down. Lift glass. Repeat process until you have enough Pac-Men.

This is what it will look like. If you used a cookie cutter, you might have prettier ones, but I think mine are pretty neat!

Even after the Pac-Men, I had some dough left over. You can carve out whatever you want – your name, your face, or a dodgy Weighted Companion Cube!

Or a bigger Pac-Man with dots!

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