Scottish Shortbread. 4 ingredients to buttery perfection.
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With only 4 ingredients these buttery Scottish shortbread cookies are one of the best examples of simple perfection. Maybe even more perfect with chocolate.
Originally published Nov 2016.
Last week we featured "Melting Moments", the lightest shortbread that I had ever sampled. Today we have my personal favourite, Scottish shortbread.
Scottish Shortbread when well made is a great example of simple perfection. With only 4 ingredients it barely qualifies as a recipe but it is very rich and delicious just the same.
It is what my mom would call the perfect "cuppa tea bickie"!
Real dairy butter is an absolute must; this is not the time to substitute margarine. Proper vanilla extract and not artificial vanilla flavouring is also essential. The scraped out sticky interior of a large vanilla bean is even better.
We usually chocolate dip half of what we make to have both versions on hand. This also qualifies as a terrific gift item as well.
There has to be more than a couple of people on any gift list who would really enjoy receiving these.
Looking for more Christmas cookie ideas?
If you liked this recipe you many want to check out this great collection of No Bake Cookies that was incredibly popular during our last Holiday season.
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Scottish Shortbread
With only 4 ingredients, these easy, buttery, shortbread cookies are one of the best examples ever of simple perfection.
Ingredients
- 2 cups salted butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups flour
Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar very well until light colored and fluffy.
- Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Fold in the flour until a soft dough forms. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.
- Roll in balls and flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in flour or roll out and cut into shapes as desired.
- Bake at 350 degrees 12-15 minutes until edges are golden brown. Allow longer baking time if you are baking the large rectangles of dough to be cut in fingers.
- These are simple perfection as they are but are also fantastic dipped in melted chocolate.
- See note for further instructions on shortbread fingers as shown.
Notes
Total time reflects chilling time for the dough.
NOTE: If you want to make the shortbread fingers as shown. A half batch of the dough fits perfectly into a parchment lined 8x8 inch pan. Press the dough evenly into the pan and smooth the surface.
Score the surface of the dough with a sharp knife to outline 16 fingers (4x1 inches each)
Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes or until the edges brown. Leave the oven on, but cool in the pan for 20 minutes before lifting the entire batch out of the pan and cutting along the score marks into 16 fingers using a serrated knife in a sawing action. Be careful, they will still be warm and fragile.
Use an egg turner to transfer them to a cookie sheet and then turn off the oven and put them back in the warm oven for 20 minutes or so to crisp up a bit more.
Cool completely on a wire rack before storing them in an airtight container or cookie tin.
Take a wooden skewer and poke a half dozen holes in each finger, right to the bottom.
If you want to dip your shortbread in chocolate, simple melt together 1 cup chocolate chips and 3 tablespoon whipping cream. Dip the shortbreads and lay them on a parchment paper covered tray until the chocolate sets. Put layers of parchment paper between layers of cookie if you are freezing them.
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Nutrition Information
Yield
36Serving Size
36 servingsAmount Per Serving Calories 159Total Fat 10gSaturated Fat 7gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 27mgSodium 81mgCarbohydrates 15gFiber 0gSugar 4gProtein 2g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
These sound wonderful. Christmas might be past, but a good shortbread cookie is great any day!!! Thanks for the recipe, ~Candy
I am making these for Christmas! Thank you!
What size of rectangle pan would you use and on average how many fingers would this make at what size? Thanks!
It doesn't have to be a rectangle pan. It can be done on a cookie sheet. Maybe 18 fingers. Depends on the size you want to make them.
Best Shortbread ever!
Can these be frozen
yes
Wonderful with Skor bits in them too"
Though I do prefer a little splash of vanilla mysefl, honest to goodness Scottish shortbread is not aupposed to have any vanilla at all. The flavour that comes through is supposed to be only that of the butter 🙂
Yes, I know, and there are some stalwarts who refuse to add anything but the traditional ingredients. I'm not such a stickler. It's easily omitted anyway.
Exactly we’ll said , it was delicious the was with the vanilla , flavour exceptional 😋🙏 this is the taste iv been looking for , thankyou 😜
Do you chill this dough Barry once you've put it into the pan for the shortbread fingers? The recipe says total time reflects chilling time for the dough, but I don't see this step.
I've chilled and not chilled my shortbread cookies. My favorite way to make them, and any kind of cookie actualky, is to form the dough into a log. Wrap in plastic wrap, then finally in a layer of foil. Then freeze the logs til ,I need them. Then just take out a log when we need cookies. I've also taken the long boxes from foil and plastic wrap, lined the boxes with a couple of layers of plastic wrap. Filled up the boxes to the top. Making sure to press the dough into the corners of the bixes. Smooth out the top of the dough. Fold the layers of plastic wrap over the dough. Then close the top of the box down . I then either use a few elastics to hold the bixes shut it tape the boxes shut. These make the cutest square cookies.. of course if your logs are chocolate chip, oatmeal or peanut butter, they bake up round no matter what shape the dough is in in. I also never do the fork presses on my peanut butter cookies. We like the puffed up way they cook and they are still crispy on the outer layer.
That seems like an awful lot of vanilla for that amount of cookie batter? It 2 tbsp. correct?
I like a lot but adjust to taste.
I have tried countless shortbread recipes and this is the best! It is now my go-to! They melt in the mouth and the flavor is sublime. I have never used vanilla in shortbread and it was really good. If I was using hi-end Euro butter I would probably omit, but with the genetic ole grocery store butter, it really added to the flavor. ( I halved the amount). Also returning to the oven to crisp up perfects it. So, thank you!
So pleased you liked the recipe. I cannot be trusted around great shortbread like this. So addictive!
Barry, , Merry Christmas to you and yours. Thank you for your creative hard work. I appreciate your recipes and your writing.
I bake shortbread cookies all the time. This is a fantastic recipe.
If your butter just soft enough to create the recipe then you really don't need to chill the dough before pressing it into a pan to bake. The only time I really chill the dough is if I'm cutting it into shapes with cookie cutters.
Can I use brown sugar instead of white?
sure
Barry, What's the yield on these shortbread cookies, if one makes into balls and separate cookies?
Can't say, never done that.
These are delicious and easy to make! Thanks for the great recipe 🙂