Scottish Shortbread: If you Like the Flavour of Butter you will LOVE these!
These 'sandy' textured, melt in the mouth biscuits (cookies), are easy to make yet fantastic to eat. Traditionally you would press the dough into a tin and cook slowly, ending with a thick biscuit you cut into fingers when baked. I prefer to stamp them out from 1/4" (6mm) dough, into the shape of my choice. Usually, for plain butter shortbread I stamp them out with a round cutter - my choice, though not written in stone, you choose the shape you want them to be.
So, here we go with another very simple technique which tastes amazing!
Scottish Shortbread Biscuits (Cookies)
Ingredients Required:
225g (1 3/4cups/8oz) plain flour
100g (3/4 cup/4oz) medium ground cornmeal
225g (1 cup/8oz) butter
100g (1/2 cup + 1 tblsp/4oz) caster sugar
Method:
1. Cream the butter and sugar together until combined and the mixture lightens slightly. Do not over beat as you are not making a cake!
2. Sieve the flour and add to the butter/sugar mixture, along with the cornmeal.
3. Mix until fully incorporated.
4. Wrap and put into the fridge to chill.
5. Flour the surface and pin out your shortbread dough to ¼” (6mm). Use a cutter to stamp out rings.
6. Place on a lined baking sheet and put into the oven.
7. Bake until the edges of the biscuits/cookies begin to colour – 10 to 12 minutes approx.
8. Take out of the oven and sprinkle a little sugar over the top of each biscuit (cookie). (If you do this straight from the oven, the sugar crystals will melt on the underside and affix themselves to the biscuit, less will fall off when you move them).
9. Leave on the tray for 5 minutes to set up.
10. Remove to a cooling wire until cold. Store in an airtight tin.
Please do not add vanilla extract to this recipe; shortbread are a butter biscuit not a vanilla biscuit. You do not want to mask the wonderful flavor of butter do you?
A great recipe and so easy to make. Your friends will be stunned by how these turn out - surprise them with your ability!
Check out the previous biscuit (cookie) recipes recently posted. Click the highlighted name:
Anzac Coookies, an Antipodean classic.
Bourbon Creams, oh so chocolaty!
Coffee Royale, an adult chocolate chip cookie.
Don't forget to check out these lovely desserts too:
A magical Dinner Party Dessert: Summer Fruit Tart.
Almond and Plumb Tart, so delicious and easy to make.
Strawberry and Elderflower Syllabub - the partner to Scottish Shortbread.
Until the next time, adios Amigos 
From very sunny Almeria Province, Spain (39 C). X
It looked delicious, you gave me hungry! Thanks for the recipe.
I follow u, follow me back if u want lot of fun and amazing picture every day.
Thank you for your reply. I will check out your posts but it is against my thoughts to automatically follow as I like to comment on everything I read, that is only fair. I will get back to you soon. X
Looks delicious
It really is and so easy to make. Thank you for your reply. X
Yum! I made cookies like these, but with almond paste (marzipan) in the middle. They're so good :D
They really are and very easy to make. Did you cut a circle of almond paste to put in the middle? Sounds fascinating. I will do a post on the different flavours of shortbread I used to make, the Almond was particularly delicious. I used a heart shaped cutter for those. Thank you for your reply. X
It was basically just a very messy ordeal. I made one giant cookie (pictures here), with half of the dough spread on a baking sheet. Then I smeared the almond paste (mixed with half an egg) on it and spread it as best I could, then I spread the other half of the dough over it.
There must be a better way, but hey, it was my own creation (before I knew everyone an their mother apparently make this), so I tried something :D
Toasted almond paste is delicious and yours looked good. Can I recommend you do it next time in a round tin to contain it? That is how traditional Scottish Shortbread is made, to contain it because it has no liquid element to hold it. My thin biscuits will not spread much because they are so thin and the dough well chilled before use. Coconut oil is more liquid than butter, not a problem in itself if it is contained. I bet it tasted delicious. X
That is a great suggestion and I will definitely remember it for the next time. Thank you very much for the tip!
Somehow posted this second pps to myself instead of you. Dooh! PPs. Just come to mind, check out the recipe for Simnel Cake, an Easter fruit cake in Britain. They put a disc of raw almond paste half way up the raw batter, then finish filling the tin. Once baked you get a distinct yellow almond paste line running through the centre of the cake and it really is delicious. X
Ooh wow, that does look delicious! I'd never heard of this cake before.
That's my trouble, I have a huge repertoire of dishes, too many to narrow my interests. Hey ho, such is life. X
Ps. I have thousands of recipes and experiences...being a 'wrinkly'; I have never come across your recipe before. They are pulling your strings! X
Ooh, I feel better now! :D
I love baking ^.^ Everything here looks so yummy!
They are. I like delicious food which is easy to make a looks good too. Why should the most basic amateur not produce food they are proud of. Professional Food writers annoy me when they pontificate on the difficulty of Baking....absolute rubbish. You just need to know the techniques. Thank you for your reply. X
As long as the food looks good! Food blogging is a lot of fun but also a lot of work.
It really is. I enjoy it though and try to post daily. It's a good job I have thousands of recipes in my portfolio! I also enjoy other peoples' work and if I read, I comment, that is only fair. Thank you for your reply. X
I do the same! Great to know your really supportive. I will be on the look out for your next posts :)
Thank you so much....me too! X