Best Traditional Scottish Shortbread

5 from 65 votes

Best Traditional Scottish Shortbread

Traditional Scottish Shortbread Cookies has always been one of my favorite cookies. Made with four simple ingredients, flour, butter, sugar and salt, these crumbly, buttery, delicious shortbread cookies will be a sweet treat your whole family will love!

Prep Time15

Cook Time35

Total Time50

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: English, Scottish

Servings:

Calories: 83kcal

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
8 oz unsalted butter softened - (2 sticks = 1 cup)
½ cup caster sugar superfine sugar - if you only have regular sugar, pulse it in a food processor until its a finer grain. Do Not USe Powdered Sugar.
¼ teaspoon table salt

Instructions

Line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang on two sides for easy removal. Set aside. You can also use a 9x9 inch pan or round cake pan.
Add the flour, sugar, and salt to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until well combined.
Add the butter to the flour mixture and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs, but is still soft and pliable.
Press the mixture into the parchment-lined baking pan. Use your fingers and hands to firmly press the mixture down.
If the mixture is too dry to work with, it wasn't pulsed long enough.
Prick dough at 1-inch intervals with the tines of a fork. Then score the dough with a knife into 2 x 1-inch bars. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the baking pan on the middle rack of a preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, until set and lightly golden brown. Do not overbake or the cookies will be dry,
Place the pan on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes.
Cut the shortbread into bars using the lines you scored the dough with as a guide. Let the cookies cool completely before removing them from the pan.
Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. The cookies can be kept frozen in a well-sealed container, frozen for up to 3 months.

Nutrition