You’ll discover the crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth texture and buttery taste of Scottish shortbread biscuits unmatched, which is why they’ve been widespread for hundreds of years. There’s no cause for something this delectable to ever exit of fashion. It’s a basic 5 ingredient recipe, and for good cause.
My Quest for the Good Scottish Shortbread
When The One and I spent a number of weeks in Scotland–the Highlands (above), Glasgow, and Edinburgh (beneath)–Scottish shortbread was on our hit checklist. We wished to know what made one of the best shortbread and why it’s so beloved. (One chew solved the beloved query!)
We spoke to skilled and residential bakers, clients, and tea store house owners. We had afternoon tea on the Tea Rooms At Edinburgh Fortress and frequented Pinnies & Poppy Seeds, which sadly is now closed. We ordered it in every single place.
We left no biscuit unturned. We found that many shortbread recipes go off the rails by including herbs and spices, nuts, dried fruit, and vanilla, calling for them to be dipped in chocolate. You get the thought. All of these are scrumptious variations, however in keeping with the Scottish bakers we talked to, they’re not the true, basic Scottish shortbread.
With that in thoughts, again house, I researched for fairly a while searching for ratios of flour to butter to sugar, American shortbread versus Scottish shortbread, varieties of sugar, and so on. The range (and lack of settlement) is staggering. Rose Levy Beranbaum, as all the time, had some tremendous issues so as to add to the method of constructing shortbread. (The baggie concept is her, and it’s sensible.)
But it surely appeared to all the time come down to 2 issues: utter simplicity and the standard of the substances.
Notes on Components
- Butter–The flavour of those conventional shortbread cookies is solely depending on the butter that you simply use, so I like to recommend splurging on one of the best you possibly can afford. (You’ll thank me.) My favorites are Irish Kerrygold, French Échiré and Payson Breton, European-style Plugrà, and Vermont Creamery.
- Sugar–A mix of granulated sugar and powdered sugar provides these cookies simply sufficient sweetness, whereas the cornstarch within the confectioner’s sugar contributes to that melt-in-your-mouth texture shortbread is known for.
Step-by-Step Directions
- Blitz the sugars and butter in a meals processor to coat the butter.
- Dump within the flour and salt.
- Pulse till the dough is uniform and holds collectively when pinched.
- Scrape the dough right into a plastic bag and knead along with your fingers till it comes collectively.
- Press the dough right into a removable-bottom 9-inch tart pan.
- Use the tines of a fork to create crimped edges and poke throughout with a skewer or toothpick.
- Reduce the shortbread into 8 triangles and chill for not less than half-hour.
- Bake in a 300°F oven till flippantly golden, then rating the shortbread once more and let it cool fully.
Widespread Questions
A tart pan with a detachable backside will provide you with the cleanest, prettiest edges, however you can even use a 9-inch spherical cake pan. Press the dough right into a parchment-lined cake pan coated with baking spray and rating into 8 wedges. Bake the cookies, and when cool, fastidiously invert them onto a rack.
Alternatively, you possibly can line an 8-by-8-inch sq. baking pan with parchment and press the dough into it. Rating the dough into sixteen 4-by-1-inch or eight 4-by-2-inch fingers and bake as typical.
Positive can. After the shortbread has cooled fully, retailer it in an hermetic container within the freezer for as much as 3 months.
Conventional shortbread is reduce into wedges or rectangular biscuits, and I like to recommend that you simply stick to those shapes. The fragile texture of the dough will make it tough to chop utilizing intricate cookie cutters.
Whereas there’s numerous disagreement right here, probably the most vital distinction is that the Scottish model doesn’t name for leavening, corresponding to baking powder or baking soda, leading to a crumbly reasonably than a crispy biscuit. It additionally tends to be much less candy than different varieties of shortbread.
The dough accommodates numerous butter, which can soften and launch water as steam whereas it bakes. Poking holes within the dough permits the steam to flee with out inflicting the dough to bubble up in order that you find yourself with flat evenly-shaped cookies. It additionally helps the shortbread to prepare dinner extra evenly.
Why Our Testers Cherished This
Tester Terry S. calls these cookies “buttery and seductive.” If that doesn’t ship you operating for the kitchen, I don’t know what’s going to.
Professional Ideas & Troubleshooting
- In case you’d choose to make rectangular shortbread biscuits, press the dough into an 8-inch sq. cake pan and rating it into sixteen 4-by-1-inch or eight 4-by-2-inch biscuits.
- The shortbread will agency up a bit because it cools. It’ll be very nigh unto not possible to not dive in and take a look at it instantly, however letting it cool fully will provide you with a cookie that doesn’t crumble if you eat it.
- Retailer the cookies in an hermetic container at room temperature for as much as 5 days. However I need to admit, they’re finest the primary few days after baking.
Extra Very good Shortbread Recipes
Write a Evaluate
In case you make this recipe, or any dish on LC, contemplate leaving a evaluation, a star ranking, and your finest photograph within the feedback beneath. I like listening to from you.–David
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Evenly coat a 9 1/2-inch removable-bottom tart pan with baking spray.
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Dump the sugars and butter right into a meals processor and pulse a number of occasions to coat the butter and reduce down the sugar.
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Scoop within the flour and salt and course of till the dough turns powdery and begins to clump flippantly.
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Dump the dough right into a plastic bag and knead it till it varieties massive clumps.
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End up the dough into the pan and press it into an excellent layer along with your fingers.
☞ TESTER TIP: To make a fantastically flat high, press one other backside of a tart pan (or a pie plate) into the dough.
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Press the tines of a fork into the sting of the pan to make a fragile ridged rim. Poke the shortbread throughout with a skewer or toothpick. With a bench scraper or sharp knife, reduce the dough into 8 triangles.
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Wrap the pan with plastic and chill for not less than half-hour.
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Crank the oven to 300°F (150°C).
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Bake the shortbread till the highest is flippantly golden, 40 to 50 minutes.
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Switch the tart pan to a rack and instantly re-cut alongside the traces once more which may have closed up. Let the shortbread cool fully within the pan.
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Take away the tart ring and gingerly pile the wedges onto a plate. Devour, devour, devour.
- Change the form–In case you’d choose to make rectangular shortbread biscuits, press the dough into an 8-inch sq. cake pan and rating it into sixteen 4-by-1-inch or eight 4-by-2-inch biscuits.
- Let it cool–The shortbread will agency up a bit because it cools. It’ll be very tempting to dive in and devour these instantly, however letting them cool fully will provide you with a cookie that doesn’t crumble if you eat it.
- Storage–The shortbread could be saved in an hermetic container at room temperature for as much as 5 days or frozen for as much as 3 months.
Serving: 1 wedgeEnergy: 260 kcalCarbohydrates: 24 gProtein: 3 gFats: 17 gSaturated Fats: 11 gMonounsaturated Fats: 4 gTrans Fats: 1 gLdl cholesterol: 46 mgSodium: 8 mgFiber: 1 gSugar: 6 g
Diet data is mechanically calculated, so ought to solely be used as an approximation.
Recipe © 2023 David Leite. Images © 2023 David Leite. All rights reserved.
Recipe Testers’ Opinions
These are my favourite Scottish shortbread cookies! Crispy, agency, buttery, they soften in your mouth and are addictive.
The preparation is sort of easy. Nevertheless, take into account that the butter have to be very chilly when added to the opposite substances. This dough could be ready upfront and saved within the chilly, so we are able to all the time have these scrumptious biscuits able to prepare dinner.
This Scottish shortbread recipe is the cookie equal of a snowflake. Mild, delicate, and dissolves magically on the tongue. I’ve a number of go-to shortbread recipes in my information, however this new model could substitute them.
The cookies are buttery and seductive. I may simply eat your complete batch and never share it with anybody. Thankfully, my higher angels prevailed, and I did let my husband have a cookie. He beloved it!
Crumbly, buttery, conventional Scottish shortbread. It’s a easy recipe, however scrumptious and properly value taking the time to make. All the things you might want to make it’s in all probability in your kitchen proper now.
As a result of the butter is a serious part of the flavour, I like to recommend utilizing an excellent butter you get pleasure from!
