Buttery Scottish Shortbread Recipes

SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°. Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Add 3-3/4 cups flour; mix well. Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead for 5 minutes, adding enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. , Roll to 1/2-in. thickness. Cut into 3x1-in. strips. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Prick with fork. Bake until cookies are lightly browned, 20-25 minutes. Cool.

BUTTERY SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Pre-heat oven to gas mark 2/300°F/150°C.
• Prepare a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
• First of all, beat the butter in a bowl with a wooden spoon to soften it.
• Beat in the sugar, followed by the sifted flour and semolina.
• Work the ingredients together with the spoon, pressing them to the side of the bowl, then finish off with your hands until you have a smooth mixture that doesn't leave any bits in the bowl.
• Divide the mixture into 9, and shape each portion into a ball (dust the work surface with flour if you find the mixture too sticky to work with).
• Flatten each one slightly and prick the centre with a fork (but not all the way through).
• To make it look pretty, make a 1 cm crinkly border on the top by lightly pressing a fork making a slight indent working all the way around (working for the edge towards the centre).
• Make sure that the biscuits are at least 1/2 inch in thickness (with the indentations at the edges).
• Place onto the prepared baking sheet, very well spaced out as they will spread out quite a bit during baking.
• Bake them for 50-60 minutes on the centre shelf of the oven (keep an eye on it after 45 mins - the edges seem to colour more easily than the top) - it should have turned pale gold and feel firm in the centre.
• Remove from the oven and dust the top with caster sugar.
• Leave it to cool for 5 minutes on the baking tray before transferring them onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• Store in an airtight container.

SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place butter in mixer and beat with paddle until soft and light. Beat in sugar in a stream and continue beating 5 to 10 minutes until the mixture is very light and whitened. Stir in the flour by hand until it absorbed, no more or the dough will toughen.
• Scrape the dough onto a floured surface and flour the dough with pinches of flour. Press the dough out with your hands, then roll over once or twice very gently with a rolling pin until the dough is about 1/2-inch thick. Cut the dough with floured cutters and transfer the cut pieces to a paper lined pan.
• Bake the shortbread for about 15 minutes until it is very lightly colored. Cool the shortbread on a rack.
• To use a shortbread mold to shape, press the mold into the floured dough and cut around it. Transfer the cut and molded dough to a paper lined pan and chill about 1 hour until firm. Bake as above.

SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD II

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
• Blend all ingredients well. Dough will be stiff.
• Press into a 9 x 9 inch buttered dish. Prick top with a fork.
• Bake until pale golden brown on the edges. Cool and cut into squares.

BUTTERY 3-INGREDIENT SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in flour. Press dough into an ungreased 9-in. square baking pan. Prick with a fork., Bake until light brown, 30-35 minutes. Cut into squares while warm. Cool completely on a wire rack. If desired, dust with confectioners' sugar.