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You just need three ingredients to make this Easy Shortbread Recipe – butter, sugar and flour! This old fashioned shortbread is buttery, crisp and delicious.
Since we all can’t do very much at the moment, I’ve been spending a little time reading old family cookbooks for inspiration. They are falling apart at the spine, but I can’t bear to throw them out – they are part of my family history.
I have to say, it’s been pretty amusing reading the footnotes I wrote at the side of each recipe when I was little – it’s pretty clear I’ve been obsessed with food since childhood! Let’s just say I must have had some pretty elaborate 1960’s style dinner parties going on in my head…..
While reading my Gran’s 1950’s Good Housekeeping cookery bible (which has definitely seen much better days) I came across this wonderful recipe for shortbread and it truly is a new favourite. It is buttery, crisp and light.
I know I already have a recipe for Scottish shortbread with cornflour and icing sugar, but I have to be honest and say I now prefer this recipe.
if you prefer a crisp shortbread, this is the recipe for you. Shortbread made with cornflour is meltingly light, but it does tend to go quite soft after a couple of days. This shortbread is still crisp and delicious after a good ten days of baking – I don’t know if it keeps for any longer than that because ours is all gone!
tips for making this easy shortbread recipeand commonly asked questions
When a recipe such as shortbread has so few ingredients, it’s crucial to use the best you can get your hands on. For me this means using proper block butter – no margarine or spreads please!
You can use salted or unsalted butter in this shortbread recipe. Personally I always use salted for shortbread and I still add a little pinch of salt to the dough. If you’re using unsalted butter, you might want to add a larger pinch of salt.
My shortbread dough is too soft to work with!
If your dough is super soft, it’s advisable to chill it for about 20-30 minutes. I usually cut the dough in half and chill one half while rolling out the other. You could also chill the cut out shapes for 15-20 minutes before baking – this prevents the shortbread from spreading in the oven.
The dough isn’t coming together!
If you’re making the shortbread by hand, it might seem like the dough is never going to adhere. Keep going – I promise it will! Using an electric stand mixer or hand whisk will make the job much easier.
How long does this shortbread keep for?
The shortbread will keep for up to 10 days in an airtight tin – possibly longer!
looking for more old fashioned home baking recipes?
Rock Cakes (Rock Buns)
Swiss Roll
melting moments
coconut and raspberry jam cake
Lemon drizzle cake
Millionaire’s Shortbread
Easy banana bread
cheese scones
treacle scones
easy oat biscuits
did you make this recipe?
I hope you love it! Let me know what you thought of the recipe by leaving a comment below – and please rate the recipe by clicking on the stars in the recipe card below.
Easy Shortbread Recipe
Yield: Makes around 20 shortbread biscuits
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
You just need three ingredients to make this Easy Shortbread Recipe - butter, sugar and flour!This old fashioned shortbread is buttery, crisp and delicious.
Ingredients
250g salted butter, at room temperature
110g caster sugar
300g plain (all purpose) flour
pinch of salt (optional)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 160C/140Fan/325F/Gas mark 3. Grease and line a couple of large baking sheets.
Beat together the butter and sugar until soft and creamy. Using an electric mixer will make a much easier job and save your arms from becoming sore. I believe this is a crucial step in making good shortbread, so do beat the mixture for a good 5 minutes or so.
Weigh out the flour and stir in the salt, if using. Beat the flour into the butter mixture, 100g at a time, until you have a smooth dough. If you are making the shortbread by hand, this may take some time and it might seem like the mixture will never form a dough - but keep going, I promise it will. you might have to get your hands in the bowl and give the mixture a little knead.
Cut the dough in half and roll one half out on a lightly floured work surface to roughly the thickness of a one pound coin. Cut the dough into shapes and place on the lined baking trays. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the shortbread is crisp and starting to turn a very pale golden around the edges.
Leave to cool on the baking trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack. Lightly sprinkle the warm shortbread with caster sugar.
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.
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.
The reason powdered sugar is used is because you'll get a softer texture in your cookie, a delicate melt-in-your-mouth cookie. For a different version using brown sugar, try my brown sugar Scottish shortbread cookies.
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.
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.
Shortbread is similar to shortcake but doesn't include baking powder. Lots of rich butter gives shortbread a high fat content, resulting in a fine, crumbly texture. Shortcake and shortbread biscuits are delicious on their own, with fruit and cream, or simply topped with a delicate dusting of sugar.
Shortbread should be very pale and golden. A little fleck of pale brown is fine, but it shouldn't be toasted or golden brown. It should be crisp and crunchy. Use a peak if in doubt; if it comes out clean it's done.
It comes from using a high proportion of fat (or shortening) to flour and is also where shortcrust pastry gets its name. Why do you put shortbread in the fridge before baking? Chilling the dough before baking will help the shortbread keep their shape while cooking.
Undercooked shortbread will be doughy and chewy. Slightly overcooked and it will become chalky, brittle and hard. Is shortbread supposed to be soft when it comes out of the oven? Yes, upon cooling it will firm up.
I like it lightly browned and well baked so it has a tender crumb but is still crispy too. With this approach it's important to cut the shortbread in the pan soon after it comes out of the oven. If you wait until it's completely cooled, it will tend to crack and won't cut evenly.
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.
Shortbread is so named because of its crumbly texture (from an old meaning of the word "short", as opposed to "long", or stretchy). The cause of this texture is its high fat content, provided by the butter. The short or crumbly texture is a result of the fat inhibiting the formation of long protein (gluten) strands.
There are a variety of reasons why the shortbread could be damp underneath but it is most likely that either the dough is being pressed out too thickly, the pan is not metal so heats up too slowly, or the oven temperature is too high causing the top to brown before the bottom has cooked sufficiently.
Bake the shortbread until it's a light golden brown across the top surface and a deeper golden brown around the edges, about 35 minutes. Remove the shortbread from the oven and turn it out of the pans and onto a clean work surface.
Introduction: My name is Trent Wehner, I am a talented, brainy, zealous, light, funny, gleaming, attractive person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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