Aunt Nan’s Secret Shortbread Recipe
Ingredients
- Good butter ½ lb
- Superfine Sugar ¼ lb (½ cup)
- Flour 1 lb (3 cups plain flour, 1 cup rice flour or cornstarch)
- Salt ½ Teaspoon
Preparation:
Put on your favourite CD of Scottish ballads and sing along. This definitely helps.
I used to make a pile of the flour and sugar and carefully knead the butter into it. This is traditional and takes a little practice.
Now I use my food processor to cream the butter and sugar, still using the (illegal) machine.
Then it is emptied onto a clean flat surface and as much of the remaining flour as you can work into it is kneaded to a stiff consistency. This is as authentic as Aunt Nan made but with a little less work.
Roll it out with a rolling pin to about ½ inch.
Shape in the traditional wheel. prick all over the top with a fork and pinch the edges.
=OR-
I use a cookie cutter now, and it makes about 2 dozen shortbread “cookies” (you can invent your own shapes or cut it into fingers.)
Prick all over with a fork.
Put into a 325 degree oven for about 20 mins.
Check often. It should be golden.
Sprinkle with castor sugar before it cools.
Cool on a wire rack
Hide in sealed tin till Hogmanay.
Good luck with the hiding part!