Scottish Butter Shortbread

Before you start

Traditional Scottish shortbread uses three ingredients in a simple ratio by weight: one part sugar, two parts butter, three parts flour. There is no egg and no leavening. The texture, short and sandy, comes from the high proportion of butter coating the flour so that little gluten forms, which is where the name comes from.

Because butter is the main flavor, use the best you can find, and salt it lightly if your butter is unsalted. Handle the dough as little as possible, press it rather than roll it, and bake it at a low temperature for a long time. Good shortbread is cooked all the way through but stays pale gold rather than brown.

Ingredients

• 200 g (¾ cup plus 2 tbsp) unsalted butter — softened but cool
• 100 g (½ cup) caster or superfine sugar — plus 1 tbsp for sprinkling
• 300 g (2½ cups, spooned and leveled) all-purpose flour
• ¼ tsp fine salt — optional; omit if using salted butter

Method

1. Lightly butter the pan. Heat the oven to 150°C (300°F) with a rack in the center.
2. Beat the butter and sugar together by hand or on low speed for about 1 minute, just until smooth and evenly combined. You are not trying to add air.
3. Add the flour and salt. Mix on low or work with your hands until the mixture forms large crumbs that hold together when squeezed. Do not knead.
4. Tip the crumbs into the pan and press them firmly and evenly into the base with your fingers or the bottom of a glass. Smooth the surface.
5. Score the dough into 12 wedges with a knife, cutting about halfway through. Prick each wedge three times with a fork, and crimp the edge with the fork tines if you like. Chill the pan for 20 minutes.
6. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until the shortbread is firm in the center and pale golden, with the edges just a shade darker. It should not look shiny or doughy in the middle.
7. Sprinkle with 1 tbsp sugar while hot and immediately recut along the scored lines. Leave it in the pan for 40 minutes, until fully cool, before lifting out the wedges.

Tips for success

• Cut while hot, cool in the pan. Cooled shortbread shatters when cut, and warm shortbread breaks if lifted.
• Replace 50 g of the flour with rice flour or cornstarch for a sandier, more melt-in-the-mouth texture, a common traditional variation.
• European-style butter with higher fat makes richer, slightly more tender shortbread.

Substitutions

Caster sugar

Granulated sugar works but gives a slightly crunchier texture. Powdered sugar gives a very smooth, delicate shortbread that is more fragile.

Unsalted butter

Salted butter is traditional in many Scottish recipes; leave out the added salt.

Round pan

Press the dough into a 20 cm (8 in) square pan and cut into 16 fingers, or roll it to 1 cm thick and cut rounds. Smaller pieces bake in 25 to 35 minutes.

Variations

Lavender shortbread

Rub 1 tsp dried culinary lavender buds into the sugar before mixing. Use only food-grade lavender.

Brown sugar pecan

Use light brown sugar in place of caster sugar and press 60 g chopped toasted pecans into the dough.

Troubleshooting

Shortbread is tough and hard

The dough was kneaded or overmixed after the flour went in. Stop mixing as soon as crumbs hold when pressed.

Greasy surface and soft middle

The butter was too warm or the oven too low, or it was underbaked. Chill the pressed dough and bake until the center is firm to a light press.

Edges browned before the middle cooked

The oven runs hot or the pan is dark. Lower the heat to 140°C (285°F) and extend the time.

Storage

Store in an airtight tin at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. Shortbread freezes well, baked or unbaked, for up to 3 months; bake frozen pressed dough straight from the freezer, adding about 5 minutes.

Safety notes

Do not eat the raw dough; raw flour can carry harmful bacteria. Contains wheat and milk.