Traditional Scottish Shortbread Recipe Perfectly crumbly, irresistibly buttery and wonderfully delicious, Scottish Shortbread has been a year-round favorite treat for centuries!
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Shortbread is as basic and simple as a cookie (biscuit) can get. But it’s also divinely delicious. And for that reason shortbread has been a favorite throughout the UK for hundreds of years.
The origin of shortbread goes back to somewhere around the 12th century when it was originally made from leftover bread-making dough that was left to dry out and harden into “biscuit bread.” Over time butter replaced the yeast and biscuit bread evolved into shortbread. The term “short” refers to the crumbly texture from the large quantity of butter. Butter was a luxury item and so shortbread was enjoyed only on special occasions and, of course, by the nobles and royals.
The more refined version of shortbread as we know it today is attributed to Scotland, in particular to Mary, Queen of Scots in the 16th century. She was particularly fond of what was known as Petticoat Tails, which was a thin shortbread baked in a large circle and cut into triangular segments. In her day the shortbread was commonly flavored with caraway seeds, which were all the rage in British baking for several centuries. In fact, the earliest published shortbread recipes from the 18th century were more elaborate than the standard shortbread today: They were baked with candied citrus peels and garnished with caraway comfits.
Traditionally Scottish shortbread is baked in either a rectangular or square slab and cut into fingers, as individual round biscuits, or in one large circle and cut into triangles. But you can cut them any shape you like and also use cookie stamps. I have and often use these cookie stamps, these ones, and these ones and love them all – excellent quality.
From our family vacation to Scotland last summer: Eilean Donan Castle
From our family vacation to Scotland last summer: Eilean Donan Castle
I’ve read a few claims that “traditional” Scottish shortbread is made with farola: “Scottish Shortbread is traditionally made with farola, a free-flowing cream coloured and fine granular powder or flour milled from durum wheat.” But the oldest recipes I’ve researched do not, so this “tradition” may be a later/more contemporary one.
We’re making Scottish shortbread the traditional way with just 3 ingredients: Flour, Sugar and Butter. Well, and a tiny pinch of salt, too. Nothing else is needed, no fancy ingredients, no flavor enhancers. The key to a good Scottish shortbread is the quality of the butter. That is what flavors the shortbread and the shortbread is only as good as the butter.
That said, shortbread is also incredible if you want to add things like homemade candied ginger, homemade candied citrus peels, dried cranberries, rosemary, and anything else your imagination inspires you to try.
From our family vacation to Scotland last summer: View of Eilean Donan Castle from our vacation cottage.
Another key is using caster sugar. Not regular granulated sugar. Not powdered sugar. Caster sugar is very fine granulated sugar. Caster sugar is commonly used in British baking and it’s an all-around smarter choice than granulated. The reason is that the sugar crystals in granulated sugar are much larger and take longer to dissolve during baking and may not dissolve completely. Caster sugar dissolves more rapidly leaving a finer texture to the baked good.
Shortbread is very simple, very easy to make and once you’ve made it yourself there will be no need to buy it again!
Before we get started, if you want to take your shortbread to the next several flavor levels, try our traditional Scottish Millionaire’s Shortbread. With layers of shortbread, caramel and chocolate it is the ultimate indulgence!
Traditional Scottish Shortbread Recipe
Let’s get started!
You can either buy caster sugar (it’s overpriced) or make you’re own, which is what I do. Super easy: Just put the sugar in a blender or coffee/spice grinder and pulse until it’s very fine.
Place the caster sugar, flour, salt and butter in a food processor and pulse until it’s combined and looks like coarse breadcrumbs but is soft and pliable and comes together in a dough when you press it together between your fingers. If it’s too dry and crumbly it needs to be pulsed a bit longer.
At this point stir in any add-ins if using (candied ginger, candied citrus peel, herbs, nuts, etc.)
Pour the mixture into a greased 8×8 inch (shortbread roughly 3/4 inch thick) or a 9×9 inch (shortbread about 1/2 inch thick) baking pan. You can also use a round cake pan. Use your fingers and hands to firmly press down the mixture.
Optional: Prick the shortbread with the tines of a fork, creating rows. Some people run a knife between each row of fork tines to make cutting the shortbread easier after it’s baked. That’s optional, too.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the shortbread on the middle rack and bake for 30-35 minutes or until light golden and firm. Let cool. Cut and serve.
Store the shortbread in an airtight container for up to several weeks. Its flavor and texture improves over time.
Enjoy!
For more delicious British treats try our:
- Treacle Tart
- Sticky Toffee Pudding
- Spotted Dick
- Eccles Cakes
- Yorkshire Parkin
- Bara Brith (Welsh Tea Bread)
- Barmbrack (Irish Tea Bread)
- Mincemeat
- Mincemeat Pie
- Lemon Curd
- Victoria Sponge Cake
And learn how to make your own Golden Syrup!
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Traditional Scottish Shortbread
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 sticks (230 grams) quality unsalted butter , cubed and softened at room temperature (the better the butter, the better the shortbread)
- 1/2 cup (120 grams) caster sugar , or "baker's sugar" in the U.S. (if you can't find any simply pulse granulated sugar in a blender until very fine. Do NOT use powdered sugar)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Optional Add-Ins:
- Homemade Candied Ginger (click link for recipe)
- Homemade Candied Citrus Peel (click link for recipe)
- Other options include nuts, fresh herbs, dried cranberries, etc.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 8x8 or 9x9 inch square baking pan. You can also use a round cake can and cut the shortbread into triangles.
- Place the caster sugar, flour, salt and butter in a food processor and pulse until it's combined and looks like coarse breadcrumbs but is soft and pliable and comes together in a dough when you press it together between your fingers. If it's too dry and crumbly it needs to be pulsed a bit longer. (If using any add-ins, stir them in at this point.)Pour the mixture into the greased baking pan. Use your fingers and hands to firmly press down the mixture. Note: If the mixture is too dry to work with, including pricking with a fork (see below), then it was not pulsed long enough in the food processor. Optional: Prick the shortbread with the tines of a fork, creating rows. Some people also like run a knife between each row of fork tines to make cutting the shortbread easier after it's baked. You can also prick the shortbread with a fork immediately after it is done baking while it is still warm; the holes will be more pronounced this way as they have a tendency to close during baking.
- Place the shortbread on the middle rack and bake for 30-35 minutes or until light golden and firm. Let cool. Cut and serve.Store the shortbread in an airtight container for up to several weeks. Its flavor and texture improves over time.
Nutrition
MeYouThem says
Needed to be baked a bit longer in 8×8. Other than that pretty good.
kotowdestroyer says
Hi! I made these today and since I don’t own any deep baking pans yet, I tried to make round cookies. I rolled balls of dough by my hands and pressed for them to flaten. Aaaaaand… They totally colapsed and spreaded all over my baking sheet, litteraly transformed into one gigantic cookie with many holes and cracks. I really don’t know what went wrong, but I’m certain it was my fault, not the recipe – 3 ingriedient recipies simply can’t be wrong. I mixed them also by my hands and they clumped together into incorporate, fine mass, like playdough. I suppose i should have put the dough into the fridge to for hour or half and then form and bake my cookies. Well I’ll try next time :)
Despite it came out as tremendous, horridly looking abomination, it was really great to eat after tearing into smaller pieces. Rich buttery flawour along with smooth, sand-like texture would please even the angelic palates. And goes wonderfully with a cup of tea or warm milk!
carmifaye says
This recipe is exactly what I’ve been looking for!! Perfect texture and not too sweet!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thank you, carmifaye, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
jeanie says
My go-to shortbread recipe. I visited Scotland in 2019 and had some amazing homemade shortbread. Had to add this to my repertoire. I make my own castor sugar just as you instructed. My family loves it. I make it all the time. Thank you!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I’m so glad your family enjoyed this, Jeanie, thank you for the feedback!
jojo says
i try and I made this and loved it. but my naphew dont like wkwk
Patrycja says
Heard really good reviews about this so I’d like to try!! Unfortunately I don’t have any deep baking pans, only a flat cookie one. Would it work if I just cut the shortbread into fingers before baking? Or would it spread out? Thanks a lot!!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Patrycja, these don’t spread much so that’ll probably be fine. Happy baking!
Terry says
You don’t need a deep pan. You can even roll the dough to make cookies. Just roll them out to about 1/4″ and bake it.
Elizabeth Tomory says
This is the best shortbread that I have ever tasted. I put granulated sugar in the food processor to make caster sugar, it worked perfectly. The shortbread is very easy to make. The only thing I added was a 1/4 tsp of vanilla bean paste. Thank you for this delicious recipe.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thank you so much, Elizabeth, I’m happy it was a success!
Janice says
Using a good butter like Tillamook, coconut flour, finely grated orange rind, and Canola oil to grease the shortbread baking dish worked well for me and produced an excellent flavorful shortbread. Mine was cooked in a convection oven at 350 degrees and was ready in about 25 minutes — nice and golden. Very pleased with the result!!!
Laura says
I just made this today, and it is by far the best shortbread I’ve ever had (my first time ever making shortbread).
I don’t have a food processor, so I just used regular granulated sugar and beat it in with the butter for a while before adding the flour. I also didn’t have unsalted butter, so I just didn’t add any salt.
These are literally so good; melt in your mouth flaky and light, far better than any storebought shortbread, even Walker’s (yes, I just said that) that I’ve tried. Now I want to buy some cookie stamps.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
That’s fantastic, Laura, thank you so much for the feedback! :)
Kathryn Zahrai says
I Love this recipe! It was so simple to make with just 4 ingredients. I appreciate that you explained how to make Caster sugar. I was able to easily make 4 batches for the Holidays in quick succession tonight. In the last batch I added 1/8 tsp. Cardamom which gives the Shortbread a little more of a Holiday flavor. My friends and family love this recipe. I think this will be my new recipe for shortbread from now on. Thank you for sharing it.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thank you so much, Kathryn, I’m happy you enjoyed it!
LC says
I made this and loved it. I will be making a second batch to get us through Christmas.
Ardrossan baker says
My grandpa was a baker from the Westcoast of Scotland in the 1920’s and his recipe was for a 9×13 cookie sheet 5/8” deep and it fills the pan exactly. Dough is kneaded by hand until it just comes together then fill the pan by pushing in with your knuckles and finished by running rolling pin over edges of pan
5 cups regular flour
1 cup rice flour
2 cups butter
1 1/4 cups caster sugar.
Baked at 325 for 45 minutes
Top of dough is docked by fork prior to baking but cut into bars after baking but while still warm and sprinkled with caster sugar on top as it comes out of the oven.
This is slightly less buttery than the published recipe but gives the nice shortbread snap when bitten.
SC says
I have been trying to replicate my mother’s shortbread recipe for literally decades now. She has Alzheimer’s and hasn’t been able to help. This is spot on. Tasting these reminds me of my childhood. Thank you for sharing.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I’m so happy to hear that, SC, thank you! :)
philippe says
.Here is a nice shortbread recipe which can, of course, be adapted to the tastes and desires of the moment.Katy, my Indian companion, has made them with candy sugar chips, chocolate chips, different candied fruits (orange is a treat), with jaggery instead of sugar and pecan and cashew nuts, or even with Sukku malli…a mixture of dry ginger, coriander seeds, peppercorns and some other spices. These biscuits taken with a good old pure malt, such as Glenmorangie or Glenfiddich…heaven is not far away!!! Thank you for these lovely recipes. Jai Hind!
Jennifer Young says
So enjoyed making this shortbread so easy and fun. I even made my own candied ginger and kept the ginger water of sweetening my tea. The hardest thing was learning to use a borrowed food processor but boy I sure learned a lot out of my experience on this site.
Thank you for sharing,
!
Alpaca Jenny
Vancouver Island Cowichan Valley BC Canada.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thanks so much for the feedback, Jennifer, I’m happy you enjoyed the shortbread! :)
Matthew L. says
This sounds delicious. I have one question.
Can you use a hand mixer to mix the dough? I don’t have a food processor or a kitchen aid?
Thanks,
Anonymous says
I just used my hands and it worked out well.