Classic Scottish Shortbread

This is the recipe my Scottish Grandma taught me, and she always had a tin up in the cupboard. I still make it and just taught my niece how, all by Hand !

After reading other shortbread recipes, I added two teaspoons of vanilla and changed the recipe to four cups of flour. Measuring the flour by spooning it into the measuring cup is important so the flour isn’t compacted, and the cookie stays light and airy. Tape some forks side by side to make poking the holes easy! I baked mine at 350 for ten minutes first, then baked the shortbread at 300 for 20 minutes, rotating every five minutes. Yum!

It really turned out well. Made it for a Scottish Years Eve party. Our friends just immigrated from Scotland. They gave it a “thumbs up”. The changes I made- Half the butter was salted butter. I spun the granulated sugar in my food processor so it would be more like caster sugar. I also sifted my flour and measured it out from the sifted flour. It helped me to have experience in baking these types of recipes because when adding the flour it’s more about how the dough feels than about the exact measurement of flour. I creamed the butter and sugar for 8 minutes. It seems to add a softness to my shortbreads without taking the firmness away. Mine did turn out “taller” than I thought they would be. I will press them out thinner the next time I make these. They baked perfectly on parchment paper.

I made half the recipe and they were very good. I did add 1tsp vanilla. I did use parchment paper and used glass 9x12 dish.

That should be "one pound salted BUTTER! " Darn autocorrect!