Classic Scottish Shortbread

I’ve made this exact recipe for years, and it’s the wonderful, authentic shortbread my grandmother used to make. Simply delicious.

I have been making shortbread with this exact recipe (including the baking instructions) since the early 70’s when a high school friend whose grandmother was from Scotland gave me their family recipe. It’s the best and only shortbread cookie recipe I’ll use.

I made these exactly as written plus 2 tsp of vanilla. I will definitely make them again. Maybe almond extract next time.

We’ve made this many times and it always turns out wonderful. We usually use 1/2 brown sugar and 1/2 white and like the slight difference it makes. Also sprinkling course sugar on top before baking makes it very festive.

I make this recipe every year, exactly as written. My daughter and I do a massive cookie bake every Christmas with so many kinds of cookies, but this is the one we get the most compliments on.

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 !

My mother was a Scotswoman as well, and she would love this recipe

Recipe halves well. Half unsalted and half salted butter, plus a splash of vanilla extract adds a little “something. I also reduced the flour.

I cut back on flour as others suggested but I think I needed it. The shortbread is good but I think not as flaky as it needed the flour. It should melt in your mouth but this was a little heavy. Still good.

Easy and awesome

After reading the reviews & adapting the recipe to 1 or 2 of the suggested changes to the recipe, I made them. They were fantastic! I was making them for a cookie exchange & tried 2 different recipes. The first recipe I tried was one by Ina Garten at the Food Network site. I wasn’t real pleased with those, so I found this recipe & they were so good. Ina Garten’s recipe didn’t really taste like shortbread. This reminds me of a tin of Walker’s Shortbread we bought when we were in Scotland. We ate the whole tin before we got back to America! I added 2 tsp of vanilla & a bit of orange zest. I admit I was a little off-put at the idea of mixing it with my hands, but I think that’s what made the cookies so good. They are just the right amount of crumbly & melt in your mouth delicious. This is the only shortbread recipe I’ll make now.

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!

This is my family’s favorite shortbread. The basic recipe that we use for everything and sometimes add cinnamon, almonds, crushed peppermint candy, dip in chocolate, etc.

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 picked this one as I wanted sheet style baking. I immediately knew that 5 cups was too much flour. Read other reviews and dropped to 4 cups that I also sifted. No added salt with unsalted butter? I added 1.5 teaspoons of salt to the flour and 2 teaspoons of vanilla to the soft / whipped butter. I like saltier so could be 2t of each next time. After pressing into the pad I made divots with my round measuring teaspoon and filled them like a checker board with jam or broken nuts topped with dark chocolate chips. With that adjustment I will give myself a 5 star

I used salted butter instead…brought out the flavour better! I also reduced the amount of flour to 4 1/2 cups and used 1 1/4 lbs salted butter

I made half the recipe and they were very good. I did add 1tsp vanilla. I did use parchment paper and used glass 9×12 dish.

That should be “one pound salted BUTTER! ” Darn autocorrect!

Cut the recipe in half since it’s just me, but this has always been my favorite recipe. 3 ingredients. Couldnt be simpler. So delicious!

True to my Grannies Scottish recipe.

Amazing recipe! I make it every Christmas and my family goes crazy for it! I add 1tsp of almond oil or lavender oil and it is amazing!!! This has become a family tradition for us, I give squares in cellophane bags with a bow for gifts! So much easier than cookies!!