Traditional Scottish Shortbread By A Scot
Try my recipe for traditional Scottish Shortbread as it is supposed to be made & with a soft & melt in the mouth buttery texture everyone loves.
Equipment
- Scales or measuring cups
- Large spoon
- Stand or Hand Mixer, (or Medium-Large Mixing bowl & spoon)
- Pastry Cutter/pastry blender (optional)
- Baking/parchment paper
- Baking Sheet/Tray x 2
- Palette knife or sharp kitchen spatula
- Timer or Phone Timer
- Cooling rack
Ingredients
- 225 grams Butter, unsalted, cubed & softened (1 cup/2 sticks or 8 oz)
- 110 grams Caster Sugar (3¾ oz), ½ cup Extra/super fine sugar, see above notes)
- 225 grams Plain Flour (1 ¾ cups All Purpose or 8 oz)
- 110 grams Corn Flour (3¾ oz, 1 cup less 1 tbsp Corn Starch) *see above
- Pinch of Salt
- Granulated Sugar for topping
Instructions
PREPARE THE BISCUIT DOUGH
- Weigh & cube the butter & leave till softened. If you forget to take the butter out to soften, here’s a hack I reviewed to soften butter in about 10 minutes.
- Add the sugar to the butter in your mixing bowl & give a light mix together. Then mix on low speed with a stand/hand mixer until light and fluffy, (known as ‘creaming the butter & sugar’). You can of course do by hand with a spoon and some elbow power!
- Line baking sheets/trays with baking/parchment paper and grease in place if the trays do not have a lip (or you could lose your biscuits).
- Sieve in the flour, corn flour/starch into the sugar/butter mixture. Mix in by hand, don’t use a mixer .
- Use a Pastry Cutter/blender for this next part- incorporates the flours into the butter/sugar mixture much more easily & is quicker, (especially if your hands hurt) Push the pastry cutter down on the bottom of the bowl, rotating left & right. Do this to all the mixture until the butter had taken on all the flour. Alternatively, do this ‘cutting in’ process, using 2 butter knives. Note that the mixture will not come together into a ball at this stage. It will be very crumbly & that is fine.
- In the bowl or on a large sheet of baking/parchment paper, very gently knead the dough just until it starts to come together, and no more. Form the dough into a very rough square shape, by using you hands & pressing down. Push in the end pieces to make sure the ends are the same height as the middle of the dough. Do until the dough is about ½cm (5mm or ⅕in) thick. Alternatively, place baking/parchment paper on top of the dough and roll out.
- Trim around the dough until you have a straight square shape. Place the scraps of dough, back in the bowl. Cut down the middle of the dough, and then cut ‘slabs. I got 18 slabs, (1½ – 2cm, approx. ⅔ – ¾" wide & about 8cm/3" long). Try to cut a little thinner than you would want, as they spread a little on baking.
- Very carefully transfer them with a palette knife to the prepared baking trays/sheets, leaving a good 2½cm/1" gap at least, in-between. Make holes with a fork all over the slabs, but very carefully not to go too far down & break them.
- Using the scraps left over, gently squash the dough together into a ball & flatten into a disc shape, pushing up the edges to make an even thickness. Cut this disc into 8 pieces. Using your thumb & index finger, pinch the ends of the round dough to give a decorated edging & shape known as Petticoat Tails. Carefully transfer the dough to the baking tray & make holes with a fork over the dough. Alternatively, make some more ‘slab’ shapes.
CHILL THE DOUGH
- Place both trays/sheets in the fridge (or somewhere extra cold) for 60 minutes. If you omit this step, the shortbread will be too soft & not hold any of its shape. If you can’t get the baking trays/sheets into the fridge, you could try transferring with the paper, to regular trays.
BAKE THE SHORTBREAD
- Heat up the oven to 180c/160c Fan/350f/Gas Mark 4, to coincide with the chilling time ending.
- Place the 2 trays/sheets in the oven & bake for approximately 15 minutes. You may need a little longer, but you want to take them out when the edges are just starting to turn a very pale golden colour. Be warned though they should still be very soft, so take the trays out and leave for 5-7mins before moving them. At this just out of the oven stage, sprinkle plenty of granulated sugar on top of the biscuits.
- After the 5-7 minutes, transfer (very carefully) to a cooling rack by lifting the baking/parchment paper. Leave the biscuits to cool down completely.
- Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee (or Whisky) & store leftovers in an airtight tin or container, where they will last at least a week.
Video
Notes
Use the Chocolate Coconut Scottish Shortbread video above as a guide for the classic version.
*See main recipe above for more info on the sugar & cornflour.
*I am told Shortbread can be frozen, but I have never tried myself, so can't say for sure how these will compare to freshly baked ones.
*Cornflour (Corn Starch) should not be omitted as this gives the biscuits their melt-in-the-mouth texture. As well as using proper butter, this is what makes this a traditional Scottish recipe that we are used to here in Scotland.
*Do not skip the chilling stage as it is very important for these and most biscuit/cookie recipes.
*See main recipe for readers' pics and feedback page to hear how others rave about these biscuits.
*You can also use seasonal cookie cutters for these biscuits, just not really intricate ones because of the soft nature of the biscuits. See main recipe for more pics & ideas.
Go to my flavoured Shortbread – Cranberry, Orange & Pecan Shortbread. A new flavour for Christmas 2021 - Chocolate Coconut Scottish Shortbread (below).
Please take a few seconds to rate this recipe - scroll down to the very bottom of the main recipe post & leave your feedback, thanks Caro xx
*Cornflour (Corn Starch) should not be omitted as this gives the biscuits their melt-in-the-mouth texture. As well as using proper butter, this is what makes this a traditional Scottish recipe that we are used to here in Scotland.
*Do not skip the chilling stage as it is very important for these and most biscuit/cookie recipes.
*See main recipe for readers' pics and feedback page to hear how others rave about these biscuits.
*You can also use seasonal cookie cutters for these biscuits, just not really intricate ones because of the soft nature of the biscuits. See main recipe for more pics & ideas.
Go to my flavoured Shortbread – Cranberry, Orange & Pecan Shortbread. A new flavour for Christmas 2021 - Chocolate Coconut Scottish Shortbread (below).
Please take a few seconds to rate this recipe - scroll down to the very bottom of the main recipe post & leave your feedback, thanks Caro xx
***I am not a qualified nutritionist, & all nutritional values are based on a serving of 1 shortbread finger (from a batch of 24 as per recipe above). Bigger or smaller shortbread & the nutritional values will change. All values from Myfitnesspal.com.
Nutrition Facts
Traditional Scottish Shortbread By A Scot
Serving Size
1 Biscuit
Amount per Serving
Calories
124
% Daily Value*
Fat
8
g
12
%
Saturated Fat
5
g
31
%
Monounsaturated Fat
2
g
Cholesterol
20
mg
7
%
Sodium
66
mg
3
%
Potassium
2
mg
0
%
Carbohydrates
12
g
4
%
Sugar
5
g
6
%
Protein
1
g
2
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.