{"id":97730,"date":"2018-01-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T01:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/origin-www.tasteofhome.com\/recipes\/scottish-shortbread\/"},"modified":"2024-08-13T16:22:31","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T21:22:31","slug":"scottish-shortbread","status":"publish","type":"recipe","link":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/recipes\/scottish-shortbread\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottish Shortbread"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like Caledonia’s incomparable whiskies, artisan gins, Irn-Bru, exceptional seafood and haggis, Scottish shortbread is among the area’s most famous epicurean delights. A Scottish shortbread cookie recipe is simple. You’re a mere three ingredients and an hour away from a plate of crumbly, buttery cookies. Or, as they’re called across the pond, biscuits.<\/p>\n

Scottish shortbread is one of our favorite easy cookie recipes<\/a> to master. Chilling the dough before baking is a must if you want to make the best shortbread<\/a>, as the technique prevents the shortbread from spreading and renders the cookies a beautiful crispness with a gorgeous crumb. This recipe makes a ton of shortbread, so it’s a stellar Christmas cookie exchange recipe<\/a>, but if you enjoy an afternoon tea break, nothing beats dipping a finger of Scottish shortbread into a hot brew.<\/p>\n

What’s the difference between Scottish shortbread and regular shortbread?<\/h2>\n

Texture is where the two styles depart: The traditional Scottish shortbread recipe uses flour, butter, sugar and salt, with some versions completely omitting the salt. Regular shortbread adds leavening agents like baking soda or baking powder. The addition of leavening agents makes the regular cookies a little crispier.<\/p>\n

Although they’re made from the same ingredients, Scottish and regular shortbread are distinct from sugar cookies<\/a> and butter cookies<\/a>. Baking temperatures and the ratios of butter, flour and sugar vary. Shortbread boasts the highest butter-to-flour ratio, so, personal biases aside, I think we can agree that Scottish shortbread may just eke ahead of the others as the most delicious of the bunch.<\/p>\n

Scottish Shortbread Ingredients<\/h2>\n