Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1/4 cup white rice flour
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice

Instructions

1. In an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light, about 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in vanilla. By hand, using a wooden spoon, mix in all-purpose flour, rice flour, and orange juice.
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease two 8-inch cake pans with removable bottoms, or lightly grease or spray a large (12-by-18-inch) cookie sheet.
3. Gather dough into a ball and set on a lightly floured pastry cloth. Knead dough for 2 minutes, until smooth and of medium consistency.
4. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into an 8-inch round. Set dough in the cake pans or on the cookie sheet. Using a fork, prick the dough in several places, as you would an unfilled pastry crust. Use a sharp paring knife to lightly score each shortbread in 8 wedges for easy cutting.
5. Bake in the center of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the shortbread is pale golden, not brown. Remove it from the oven and cool on a wire rack without removing from the pan.
6. When completely cool, remove cake pan sides or gently slide shortbreads from cookie sheet. Cut each into 8 wedges along the score lines.
7. Note: Rice flour is low in gluten (protein), and helps give shortbread its classic sandy-crunchy-tender texture. You can buy rice flour at Asian markets, some natural food stores, and some supermarkets. You can also omit the rice flour and increase the amount of all-purpose flour to 2 1/2 cups.