Scottish Shortbread

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.

Scottish shortbread is one of our favorite easy cookie recipes to master. Chilling the dough before baking is a must if you want to make the best shortbread, 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, but if you enjoy an afternoon tea break, nothing beats dipping a finger of Scottish shortbread into a hot brew.

What’s the difference between Scottish shortbread and regular shortbread?

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.

Although they’re made from the same ingredients, Scottish and regular shortbread are distinct from sugar cookies and butter cookies. 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.

Scottish Shortbread Ingredients

• Butter: The extra 2% butterfat and sweet, creamy flavors of Kerrygold and other European-style butters bump them ahead of American versions to make the best shortbread. As for salted vs. unsalted butter, it’s a bit unorthodox to some, but I use salted butter when making shortbread to balance out the sweetness of the sugar.
• Sugar: Using brown sugar gives the Scottish shortbread recipe a subtly richer flavor and makes the cookies more tender. For crisper shortbread, use white sugar. If you like the idea of a bolder molasses taste, try muscovado sugar.
• Flour: Our go-to workhorse for baked goods, all-purpose flour is perfect for this Scottish shortbread recipe.

Directions

Step 1: Cream the butter and sugar

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Preheat the oven to 325°F. Cream the butter and sugar well until the texture becomes light and fluffy, five to seven minutes.

Step 2: Add the flour

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Add 3-3/4 cups flour to the butter mixture. Mix well to form a dough.

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Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for five minutes. Add the remaining flour as needed to form a soft dough.

Editor’s Tip: Don’t add too much extra flour to the dough. This is one of the most common shortbread mistakes.

Step 3: Cut the dough

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Place the dough on a sheet of baking parchment, then roll it out to a 16×9-inch rectangle.

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Transfer the slab of dough to a baking sheet and cut it into 3×1-inch strips.

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Prick each cookie several times with a fork. Place the tray in the fridge for 30 minutes or overnight.

Step 4: Bake the shortbread

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Arrange the cookies 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the cookies are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and transfer to wire racks to cool.

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Scottish Shortbread Variations

• Dust with sugar: After pulling the cookies out of the oven, sprinkle them with sugar to add a sweet crunch to each bite. The best types of sugar for the job are turbinado, demerara or sanding sugar.
• Try the air-fryer: Preheat the air fryer to 290°. Follow the same instructions for making the dough and cutting the cookies. Lay the cookies 1 inch apart on an ungreased tray in the air-fryer basket. Cook until the cookies are set and lightly browned, seven to nine minutes. Cool in the basket for two minutes, then pop the cookies onto wire racks to cool completely.
• Add extras: Chocolate, dried fruit (currants, cranberries and blueberries), candied citrus peel, chopped nuts, candied ginger, vanilla extract, cinnamon, allspice, clove and ginger—all are additions that can make a Scottish shortbread cookie recipe unique to your tastes. Add any extras when you mix in the flour.
• Use brown butter: Brown butter is a baker’s secret weapon, adding gorgeous layers of toasted nuts and hints of caramel to your favorite baked desserts. Let the brown butter chill in the fridge before making the shortbread dough.
• Make them crispy: Some traditional Scottish shortbread recipes introduce white rice flour (not glutinous!) to make the cookies extra crumbly and crisp. Cornstarch is a great second option if you don’t have rice flour. For crispy Scottish shortbread, use 3 cups all-purpose flour and 1/2 to 3/4 cup rice flour.

How to Store Scottish Shortbread

Pop your shortbread into an airtight container and keep the cookies at room temperature.

How long does Scottish shortbread last?

A homemade Scottish shortbread cookie recipe lasts about two weeks at room temperature, but we all know the cookies will get eaten long before then!

Can you freeze Scottish shortbread?

These buttery sweet treats are perfect cookies to keep in the freezer. Enjoy frozen shortbread within a month. To thaw, put the shortbread in the fridge overnight.

Scottish Shortbread Tips

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Do you need to poke holes in Scottish shortbread?

Absolutely. The rows of holes in Scottish shortbread aren’t purely decorative—stabbing the dough with a fork is necessary to release steam while the cookies are baking to promote even baking and prevent the shortbread from puffing up too much. Part of Scottish shortbread’s appeal is its dense texture.

What common mistakes should you avoid when making a Scottish shortbread recipe?

First off, when making shortbread, whether Scottish or other varieties, don’t overwork your dough. Mixing the dough until it just comes together ensures melt-in-your-mouth shortbread.

It can be tempting to add more flour. Don’t. While there’s a little wiggle room in this Scottish shortbread cookie recipe to add a dash more flour if needed, err on the side of using less. The dough should be a bit crumbly. To that end, accuracy is important when measuring ingredients. Here’s a quick guide if you need to brush up on how to measure flour the right way.

What is the secret to the best Scottish shortbread?

It’s a simple secret: Use high-quality ingredients for this Scottish shortbread recipe. Because we’re only working with butter, flour and sugar, it’s imperative to use the best you can get your hands on, particularly the butter. If you’re not sure where to start, the best butters for baking tend to have a higher butterfat content.

How can you tell when Scottish shortbread is done?

When finished baking, the shortbread should be a light golden brown and smell like absolute heaven.