Basic Scottish Shortbread

This first Basic Scottish Shortbread Cookie Recipe uses a mixture of 75 percent flour and 25 percent cornstarch. That makes for a crispier cookie. An all flour mixture would be just fine.

Basic Scottish Shortbread Cookie Recipe

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (can use salted)
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. vanilla (optional)

Have ready an 8 or 9-inch pie plate or pan.

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream the butter with the sugar until fluffy, add vanilla. Sift in the flour along with the cornstarch and salt and add to butter mixture. Beat until well mixed taking care not to overwork the dough.

Flour your hands lightly and pat the dough into the pan. Prick the dough all over with a fork. Divide the dough into 8 wedges with a knife, without cutting all the way through to the bottom of the pan. Score the outside edge of the dough. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until pale golden brown. Cool the Shortbread in the pan 20 minutes. Turn the Shortbread out onto a rack to complete cooling, cut into wedges to serve.

Basic Scottish Shortbread With Jam Topping

2 cups butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 (8 oz.) jar of strawberry or raspberry jam
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Almond Glaze

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat the butter until light and fluffy and then beat in the sugar. In another bowl sift the flour with the salt and baking powder and the fold into the butter mixture.

Press the dough into a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Spread the nuts over the shortbread and cover with the jam.

Bake the shortbread for 15 minutes or until it is slightly golden. Drizzle with the Almond Glaze while the shortbread is still warm.

1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 1/2 tsp. Water
1/2 tsp. almond extract

Mix the ingredients right in the measuring cup. If a thinner glaze is desired, add water one drop at a time. Drizzle over the warm shortbread.

Any Basic Scottish Shortbread Recipe should be roughly 3 parts flour, 2 parts butter and 1 part sugar. You will see variations to this ratio but if you follow the formula you won't go wrong.

More About Shortbread Cookies

Thanks to the Internet we can purchase things today that we never could before. I've never seen shortbread pans or shortbread molds in my usual cooking supply stores but they're readily available over the Internet.

The same is true with Walker shortbread cookies. Imagine being able to buy buttery shortbread cookies made in the Scottish Highlands prior to the Internet.

Use the search box at the bottom of the page and you'll be able to find them all.

Walker Shortbread Cookies

English shortbread is a tradition in the British Isles but Walker shortbread cookies are Scottish. This buttery shortbread is baked at the Walker family bakery located in a secluded village in the Scottish Highlands.

Walker Shortbread Cookies are classic pure butter shortbread. Walker shortbread cookies are baked fresh daily in small batches with only the finest shortbread ingredients available.

They still use the original Walker shortbread cookies recipe Joseph Walker used over 100 years ago.

Shortbread Pans and Shortbread Molds

To keep basic Scottish shortbread cookies traditional they should be baked in shortbread pans or shortbread molds. Shortbread was originally baked in wooden shortbread molds that were notched at the edges to signify the rays of the sun.

Today shortbread pans and shortbread molds are made of ceramic and come in many sizes and shapes. Most also have a decorative design.

Shortbread pans and shortbread molds need to be dusted with flour or powdered sugar before filling with the Basic Scottish Shortbread dough to ensure easy release. After filling with Basic Scottish Shortbread dough they should be chilled about 15 minutes before baking so the designs will retain their shape.

You Might Need:

• Kitchen Supply Aluminum Half Size Sheet Pan 18-inch by 13-inch

• Calphalon 12-by-17-Inch Rectangular Nonstick Cooling Rack

• Silpat 11-5/8-by-16-1/2-Inch Nonstick Silicone Baking Mat

• Oxo Good Grips Cookie Scoop