Caster sugar is commonly used in British baking and it’s an all-around smarter choice than granulated.
Caster sugar is very fine granulated sugar. That said, shortbread is also incredible if you want to add things like homemade candied ginger, homemade candied citrus peels, dried cranberries, rosemary, and anything else your imagination inspires you to try.įrom our family vacation to Scotland last summer: View of Eilean Donan Castle from our vacation cottage.Īnother key is using caster sugar. That is what flavors the shortbread and the shortbread is only as good as the butter. The key to a good Scottish shortbread is the quality of the butter. Nothing else is needed, no fancy ingredients, no flavor enhancers. We’re making Scottish shortbread the traditional way with just 3 ingredients: Flour, Sugar and Butter. I’ve read a few claims that “traditional” Scottish shortbread is made with farola: “Scottish Shortbread is traditionally made with farola, a free-flowing cream coloured and fine granular powder or flour milled from durum wheat.” But the oldest recipes I’ve researched do not, so this “tradition” may be a later/more contemporary one. I have and often use these cookie stamps, these ones, and these ones and love them all – excellent quality.įrom our family vacation to Scotland last summer: Eilean Donan Castle But you can cut them any shape you like and also use cookie stamps. Traditionally Scottish shortbread is baked in either a rectangular or square slab and cut into fingers, as individual round biscuits, or in one large circle and cut into triangles. In fact, the earliest published shortbread recipes from the 18th century were more elaborate than the standard shortbread today: They were baked with candied citrus peels and garnished with caraway comfits. In her day the shortbread was commonly flavored with caraway seeds, which were all the rage in British baking for several centuries. She was particularly fond of what was known as Petticoat Tails, which was a thin shortbread baked in a large circle and cut into triangular segments. The more refined version of shortbread as we know it today is attributed to Scotland, in particular to Mary, Queen of Scots in the 16th century. Butter was a luxury item and so shortbread was enjoyed only on special occasions and, of course, by the nobles and royals.
The term “short” refers to the crumbly texture from the large quantity of butter. The origin of shortbread goes back to somewhere around the 12th century when it was originally made from leftover bread-making dough that was left to dry out and harden into “biscuit bread.” Over time butter replaced the yeast and biscuit bread evolved into shortbread. And for that reason shortbread has been a favorite throughout the UK for hundreds of years. Shortbread is as basic and simple as a cookie (biscuit) can get.
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