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Classic Scottish shortbread cookies are buttery, soft, and melt in your mouth! This easy recipe is shortbread at its purest, containing nothing but butter, flour, sugar and a pinch of salt.
What is the Secret to Good Shortbread?
Powdered sugar! Powdered (or confectioner’s) sugar is a blend of granulated sugar and cornstarch. The resulting shortbread is crisp and buttery, yet melts in your mouth.
Maybe it’s the Scottish blood coursing through my veins, but shortbread is my favorite of all cookies. This recipe comes from our Glaswegian neighbor who uses powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar for his Scottish shortbread recipe.
Cookie or Biscuit?
While Americans would consider a piece of shortbread a “cookie,” it’s actually called a “biscuit” outside of the US. This can be confusing since Americans consider a “biscuit” something similar to a British scone.
There are cookies in Britain, like snow cookies, but they tend to be softer and filled. Whatever you call shortbread, I just call it delicious!
I’ve written about shortbread before. My Lavender Shortbread and Rose Scented Shortbread are wonderful for special occasions.
Want something a little richer? How about Brown Sugar Walnut Shortbread? I’ve even made a savory version, like this Rosemary Cheddar Shortbread!
How to Make Traditional Scottish Shortbread
Today we’re talking about the classic Scotch shortbread cookie recipe. No additional ingredients, just buttery goodness!
This shortbread recipe with powdered sugar is easy to make with just the following simple ingredients:
Use a knife and cut the dough into rectangles about 2” x 1 ½”. Prick each rectangle three times. They don’t have to be perfect.
Chilling the dough at this point makes it easier to remove the shortbread from the baking sheet, and helps it keep its shape on a warm day.
Transfer the shortbread onto a parchment or silpat lined cookie sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 325* F. The shortbread should be pale and light golden. Dust with sanding sugar, if desired, as soon as they are pulled from the oven.
Scottish shortbread cookies will stay fresh in a tin for up to a week. These make a great gift, too!
Scottish Shortbread Cookies
Cynthia
Classic Scottish shortbread cookies are buttery, soft, and melt in your mouth! This easy recipe is shortbread at its purest, containing nothing but butter, flour, sugar and a pinch of salt.
2Tablespoonssanding sugaroptional, for dusting on cooked shortbread
Instructions
Cream butter until light and fluffy.
Slowly add sugar, scraping down sides.
Mix flour and salt together. Add flour all at once, mix just until incorporated. Do not over-mix!
Using your hands, pat into a cookie sheet, about 1/2" thick.
Trim edges to make neat sides. Using a knife slice into rectangles about 2"x1". Prick with a fork three times on each rectangle. Put rectangles on a cookie sheet.
For best results, chill shortbread for 20 minutes. This will help them retain their shape.
Bake for 20-25 minutes at 325* F. The shortbread should be pale and light golden. Dust with sanding sugar if desired as soon as they are pulled from the oven.
Makes about 3 dozen.
Notes
Notes:
chill the dough for 15-20 minutes before baking.
the quality of ingredients is important, use the best sweet cream butter you can afford.
If you are using salted butter.DO NOT add additional salt. If you do not have kosher salt, which is less salty that regular salt, use less.
some recipes call for granulated sugar..some call for cornstarch. Confectioner’s sugar is both mixed together
The most common mistakes when making shortbread are over-working the dough, and incorporating too much flour. The less you work the dough, the more crumbly and melt-in-your-mouth your shortbread cookies will be.
Traditional Scottish shortbread is a simple recipe made with sugar, butter, flour, and salt. Other shortbread styles will include leavening agents like baking powder and baking soda, which makes them crisp instead of crumbly like traditional Scottish shortbread.
A. It is not recommended to substitute powdered sugar for granulated sugar. Since powdered sugar has a much finer texture, and it contains a small percentage of cornstarch to prevent caking, substituting can give you unexpected results.
Generally, it's recommended to use 1 cup of granulated sugar for 1 3/4 cups of powdered sugar. A more accurate (and easier) way to substitute the sugars is based on weight, not volume. If a recipe calls for 1 cup of powdered sugar (4 ounces, or 113 grams), you should use 4 ounces of granulated sugar.
And once you have cut out or shaped your dough make sure you chill it for at least 30 minutes before baking so that the butter can re-solidify before reaching the heat of the oven.
The word "bread" comes from "biscuit bread" which was made from leftover bread dough that was sweetened and dried out in the oven to make biscuits. Why do you poke holes in shortbread? The holes allow the moisture to escape during baking and more even heat distribution. This helps dry out and crisp up the cookies.
Cornstarch provides the shortbread with structure, but its biggest job is keeping the cookies extra soft, tender, and light. I love adding a small amount to chocolate chip cookies too. Optional Coarse Sugar Topping: For an optional sparkly crunch on your shortbread wedges, add a sprinkle of coarse sugar before baking.
If you put too much butter in cookies , it can have a negative impact on the texture and flavor of the cookies . The excess butter can cause the cookies to spread too thin , resulting in a flat and greasy cookie . It can also make the cookies overly rich and heavy , making them difficult to eat .
Always start with cold butter straight from the refrigerator. This will keep the dough from warming up, making it greasy and difficult to roll out. If the dough does get soft or sticky as you're rolling or cutting it, just put it back in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes to chill the butter.
The key with shortbread is not to overhandle it. Make the dough exactly as instructed, but don't mess around making shapes or over rolling the dough - you will end up with delicious but tough biscuits. Stretching and pulling the dough activates the gluten in the flour, making chewy cookies and not crisp ones.
The name "millionaire's shortbread" appears to have originated in Scotland. The "millionaire" prefix to millionaire's shortbread or millionaires slice implies a level of decadence and wealth to the sweet treat, that it is an upgrade from regular shortbread.
Figure In More Fat. While Ina Garten adds a bit of water to solve the crumbly shortbread conundrum, that's not the only solution to try. Sometimes, dry shortbread occurs because you don't have enough fat in your dough. Fat, and namely butter, helps to retain moisture and give the dough its consistency.
Powdered sugar has a much finer texture and a higher cornstarch content, which can absorb moisture and lead to a drier, crumbly cookie texture. If you use powdered sugar in place of granulated sugar, you'll likely end up with cookies that are more cake-like and less chewy.
Powdered sugar can be used for several purposes in baked goods: Sweetener: provides a sweet flavor. Tenderizer: interferes with gluten formation, protein coagulation and starch gelatinization. Shelf life improvement: reduces the amount of water available for microbial deterioration.
For the best shortbread, the butter should be at room temperature before beating into the butter. It should be soft but not too soft! Using icing sugar instead of caster sugar will result in a slighty finer textured shortbread. Both ways are delicious!
Introduction: My name is Pres. Carey Rath, I am a faithful, funny, vast, joyous, lively, brave, glamorous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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