rich, buttery, old-fashioned shortbread as it should be
This shortbread recipe has been handed down from my grandmother, who’s shortbread was almost world-famous. It was one of her signature bakes, she baked it and gave it to anyone she could – friends and neighbours always received a pack (or two) of shortbread any time they visited. Affectionately known to us all as G.A. due to me not being able to say her name, Jane when I was a baby – the nickname stuck and she was G.A. to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren all her life.
She taught me to bake from I was old enough to stand on a chair beside her in the kitchen, she rarely had anything ‘bought’, everything was baked from scratch. If you called in with her on a Saturday afternoon there were always freshly baked buns – you didn’t get to leave until you had eaten at least half a dozen!
Shortbread can be tricky to get right but if you keep it simple there’s less to go wrong – no fancy ingredients and no rolling out (the dough has a tendency to break if you try to roll and cut), just press into a tin and bake!
Shortbread is made from the simplest storecupboard ingredients – flour, sugar and butter. It can also be used as a base to make many more delicious treats – try my No Bake Rocky Road or No Bake Mint Squares recipes, both of which include shortbread – that’s if you have any left over! You can also bake shortbread in a traybake tin as a base for my Easter Mini Egg Caramel Squares.
Shortbread
Equipment
- 3 7"/18cm round shallow sandwich tins
Ingredients
- 9 oz butter
- 6 oz caster sugar plus extra for sprinkling
- 4 oz self raising flour
- 12 oz plain flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 120C (fan).
- Soften the butter – the easiest way to do this is in a microwave on full power for 20 second bursts, stirring each time. The butter should be very soft and smooth but not melted.
- Cream the softened butter together with the caster sugar until pale in colour. This can be done by hand with a wooden spoon or in an electric mixer on high speed. It should only take a few minutes if the butter is soft enough.
- Add the flours and mix to combine. If using an electric mixer mix on minimum speed.
- Divide the mixture equally in three and place each part in one of the sandwich tins. Spread the mixture and press down evenly then mark around the outside with a fork and prick all over to prevent the shortbread rising unevenly.
- Bake for approx 1 hour 30 minutes until pale golden (it should not be brown) and firm to touch if pressed in the centre. Remove from the oven and immediately cut into 12 equal sized pieces. Allow to cool in the tin.
- When cooled, sprinkle with extra caster sugar and tap the sides of the tin until the pieces are released.
That’s very cool Suzanne, no
kidding on the quality of the shortbread too, just delicious. Wonderful memories of GA and Pappy, they were such a lovely couple. Warmest and best wishes to you from Nova Scotia, Elaine is really enjoying sharing your website and recipes with our girls. John xoxo
Thank you John, delighted to hear the recipes have made it all the way to Nova Scotia! Best wishes to you, Elaine and your girls x