Here’s A Scottish Shortbread Recipe For Crumbly, Buttery Cookies!
Want to make some Scottish shortbread cookies but feeling overwhelmed? Don’t be! These deliciously crumbly cookies are actually really easy to make.
With just a few ingredients – literally three – this shortbread recipe will have you enjoying cookies in no time.
We’re big fans of shortbread cookies. We both lived in Scotland a few years ago and jumped at any chance to eat authentic shortbread – whether from a local cafe or homemade courtesy of a local friend’s mom!
Scottish shortbread was also a popular gift that Eric brought home to Canada when it came time to do Christmas shopping. No one ever complained!
Recipe Tips/Substitutions
Before you tackle this Scottish shortbread recipe, read through these recipe tips and considerations so that you can achieve best results:
- If you don’t have caster sugar, you can make your own. Simply blend some regular granulated sugar in a blender for a few seconds until fine. Don’t use powdered/icing sugar since this sugar is too fine and contains cornstarch, which we don’t need for this recipe.
- Make sure that your butter is not too cold – otherwise, you might have trouble mixing it. It doesn’t have to be at room temperature, but letting it sit out on the counter for around 20 minutes will make it easier to work with.
- When baking, the edges of the cookies might get brown but the top shouldn’t get brown – so don’t leave it in the oven for too long.
- Overall, the quality of the individual ingredients is important since there are only three ingredients in these shortbread cookies. So, choose higher quality over cheap ingredients – especially when it comes to butter – because you’ll taste it!
How to Make Scottish Shortbread – Step by Step Instructions
To tackle this traditional shortbread recipe, you can find the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
For those who want to see visual step-by-step instructions, you can find the recipe process photos in this section.
This way, you can have a look to see exactly how we made our Scottish shortbread!
First, cut the butter up into small pieces. Place it and 1/2 cup of the caster sugar into a mixing bowl.
Mix the sugar and butter together with the normal beaters of your electric mixer for around 5 minutes until creamy in consistency.
Then add the flour in small increments while you continue to mix until everything is well combined. Set the mixer aside.
The dough will look quite crumbly but you should be able to easily press the crumbles together with your hands so that they adhere to one another.
Lightly grease a baking pan with approximate dimensions of 11 x 7.5 inches (slightly bigger will also work).
Add the crumbly dough to the baking pan and lightly press it into place. You want to be gentle here since pressing too hard can affect the consistency of the shortbread and make it denser (which we don’t want).
Poke the top of the dough with a fork in even rows (approximately 1/3 deep).
Then sprinkle the 1/2 teaspoon of caster sugar (more or less to taste) on top of the dough.
Place the baking pan with the dough into the fridge for 20 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Remove the baking pan from the fridge and place it in the middle rack of your oven.
Bake the shortbread for around 20-25 minutes until fully cooked and the edges just start to brown. Keep in mind, that the top of the shortbread is not supposed to brown!
Remove the shortbread from the oven and let it cool in the pan. Once cooled, cut the shortbread into fingers and enjoy!
Storage Tips
The good news is that Scottish shortbread cookies can last a pretty long time after baking. The bad news is that these cookies generally don’t exist too long if left out on a cookie plate!
You can keep any leftover shortbread in a sealed container on the counter (normal room temperature) to keep them fresh.
In a sealed container they’ll last up to two weeks and still be just as good as the day you baked them!
If you want to store them longer, you can also freeze the shortbread in a freezer container.
Related Recipes
For more great recipes from different countries, check out these sweet delights:
- German Gingerbread Cookies – Authentic Lebkucken to enjoy for the holidays
- Swedish Chocolate Cake – A moist Kladdkaka recipe to satisfy the chocolate lovers
- Krapfen – Deep-fried German jelly-filled donuts topped with powdered sugar
Scottish Shortbread
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup butter
- 1/2 cup + 1/2 teaspoon caster sugar, see notes
Instructions
- First, cut the butter up into small pieces. Place it and 1/2 cup of the caster sugar into a mixing bowl.
- Mix the sugar and butter together with the normal beaters of your electric mixer for around 5 minutes until creamy in consistency.
- Then add the flour in small increments while you continue to mix until everything is well combined. Set the mixer aside. The dough will look quite crumbly but you should be able to easily press the crumbles together with your hands so that they adhere to one another.
- Lightly grease a baking pan with approximate dimensions of 11 x 7.5 inches (slightly bigger will also work).
- Add the crumbly dough to the baking pan and lightly press it into place. You want to be gentle here since pressing too hard can affect the consistency of the shortbread and make it denser (which we don’t want).
- Poke the top of the dough with a fork in even rows (approximately 1/3 deep). Then sprinkle the 1/2 teaspoon of caster sugar (more or less to taste) on top of the dough.
- Place the baking pan with the dough into the fridge for 20 minutes.
- In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove the baking pan from the fridge and place it in the middle rack of your oven. Bake the shortbread for around 20-25 minutes until fully cooked and the edges just start to brown. Keep in mind, that the top of the shortbread is not supposed to brown!
- Remove the shortbread from the oven and let it cool in the pan. Once cooled, cut the shortbread into fingers and store them in an airtight container where they will last for around 2 weeks.
Notes
- If you don’t have caster sugar (i.e. very fine granulated sugar, but not powdered/icing sugar) on hand, you can easily make your own. Simply put normal white sugar into a blender and blend it for a few seconds until fine. Then use that in the recipe as directed above.
- Make sure that your butter is not too cold – otherwise, you might have trouble mixing it. It doesn’t have to be at room temperature, but letting it sit out on the counter for around 20 minutes will make it easier to work with.
- Since shortbread is made of few ingredients, the quality of the individual ingredients really matters – especially for the butter. So try using a high quality butter for this recipe.
Nutrition
This nutritional information has been estimated by an online nutrition calculator. It should only be seen as a rough calculation and not a replacement for professional dietary advice.
This is the ingredient proportions I needed. Kneaded the ingredients together on the counter a bit at a time, then shaped it into a rectangle, docked and baked. Light as a feather!
Glad to hear you liked the recipe, thanks for leaving a comment!
Best short bread cookies I’ve ever tried to make ! Husband says better than “Walkers”. However, dough was not quite done after 25 min. So I lightly covered the top with foil and allowed to bake till browned on bottom. Could have been oven thermostat issues. Great recipe, will make again.
Thanks so much for your comment, Robbye! I’m so happy that you and your husband enjoyed them! Yeah, unfortunately every oven cooks slightly different (we just recently moved so I’m getting used to our new oven), but now you know that they might need a bit longer for next time. /Lisa
Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe.my family loved it.will be sharing this recipe with my friends.they will like it.
I’m so happy to hear that, thanks for sharing! /Lisa
Slicing the shortbread after it comes out of fridge enables a nice cut after baking. Not sure why you didn’t do this. I use a bench scrapper to cut slices.
Thanks for your suggestion, Carol – this is a great tip! As with any recipe, there are usually different ways to do things. /Lisa
Please, if these are European recipes could you give the amounts in kilogrammes. How much is a cup of butter. Also oven temperatures in centigrade too. Thanks.
Thanks for your suggestion, Carolyn. Most of our readers are located in North America so we use cups and Fahrenheit as measurements but we will consider adding European measurements in the future. /Lisa
It’s so easy to google conversions. I guess that’s easy for me to say I live in North America. anyway if I could rate you a 10 I wood! Lisa your recipe is so simple and your approach to the ingredients and handling them throughout the process is the key. Thank you for sharing
I have enjoyed the recipes that I have tried. Please keep them coming.
THANKS…DON