Scottish Shortbread for Lori

[Jann Muir ~ Guardian Clann Muir]

Hi Lori,
Here is what I have and, I added a bit of history with Scottish Shortbread too.

#1 Nana'a

INGREDIENTS
2 cups butter (unsalted butter)(butter was hand churned with no salt)
1 cup packed brown sugar
4 1/2 cups flour (siftted 1x)

(flour today is all purpose no sifting needed)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

Cream butter and brown sugar. Add 3 to 3 3/4 cups flour. Mix well.

Sprinkle board with the remaining flour.

Knead for 5 minutes, adding enough flour to make a soft dough. (optional)

Roll to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into 3x1 inch strips.

Prick with fork and place on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.
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Don't make a shortbread recipe with white sugar!

Not the way it was done.

This recipe is very flexible.

Here is how I make it, and the kind of variations it can handle.

I will use regular flour, whole wheat flour, organic flours, etc. They all work great.

The butter needs to be SOFTENED, not MELTED. keep this in mind, please!
If you need to soften butter in a hurry, cut the cubes into 5 pats apiece.

Arrange them in a ring on a dinner plate, (none in the middle!) and place them in the microwave.

If you have power percentage control, put it on 10% and give it 30 seconds or so.

Repeat, testing until it is perfect. Dont leave the microwave.

Yes, it'll take a few minutes, but it's better than finding a time machine so you can leave the butter out to soften this morning.

If you don't have percentage control, cook the pats on high power for 4 or 5 seconds at a time, waiting about 20 seconds inbetween heatings.

This is very important, so you don't end up with melted butter.

Cream with the brown sugar, then add the cups of flour (I just use 4, I find it makes the cookies nice and tender!) and mix well.

I don't knead the dough, I don't roll it out.

I grab golf-ball size balls, place them on the sheet, and put a thumb-print in the middle. that's it!

Cook them for the suggested time, no more, and you'll have fantastic melt-in-your-mouth shortbread.


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#2 Mum's WWII (1940's)

4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon fine grain(sea) salt
1 pound butter (unsalted )
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
In a mixing bowl beat the butter until light and fluffy.

Add the powdered sugar and beat again, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl once or twice as you are mixing.

Beat in the vanilla extract.

If you have a vanilla bean slit it open along its entire length, scrape out the vanilla bean paste from the interior of the bean, and add this to the mixer as well.

Add the flour mixture in two additions.

Stir until everything comes together into a thick dough.

Turn the dough out onto a countertop and divide into two pieces, there is quite a bit of dough, so cutting it into two pieces just makes it easier to roll out later on.

Press each piece of dough out into a flat patty an inch thick. Wrap each piece in plastic and chill completely in the refrigerator - about thirty minutes.

When the dough is chilled, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out 1/4-1/2-inch thick.

Cut the dough into desired shapes using cookie cutters or a knife and place on a parchment (or Silpat) lined baking sheet.

Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies are barely golden.

Makes 3 or 4 dozen tiny cookies - more or less depending on the size of your cutters.
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History of Scottish Shortbread

Scottish shortbread evolved from medieval biscuit bread, which was a twice-baked, enriched bread roll dusted with sugar and spices and hardened into a Rusk (soft, sweetened biscuit). Eventually butter was substituted for yeast, and shortbread was born. Since butter was such an important ingredient, the word "shortbread" derived from shortening. Shortbread may have been made as early as the 12th Century, however its invention is often attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots in the 16th Century. Petticoat Tails were a traditional form of shortbread said to be enjoyed by the queen. The round shortbread was flavored with caraway seeds, baked and cut into triangular wedges. The triangles resemble the shape of fabric pieces used to make petticoats during the rein of Queen Elizabeth I. Shortbread was also made in individual round biscuits called shortbread rounds and in a rectangular slab, which was cut into thin pieces known as fingers. All of these forms of shortbread are still made today.

In the beginning shortbread was expensive and reserved as a luxury for special occasions like Christmas, Hogmanay (Scottish New Year’s Eve), and weddings. Through the years it developed into an everyday favorite and is now enjoyed all around the world. Traditional shortbread consisted of three main ingredients: flour, sugar and butter. Today many varieties of shortbread exist, but most still include the traditional ingredients. The type and texture of the dry ingredients greatly influences the consistency of the shortbread. The addition of rice flour gives shortbread a grainy, crumbly texture while cornstarch (corn flour) gives it a more dense texture.

Interesting facts about Shortbread:

In Shetland a decorated shortbread was traditionally broken over a bride’s head before she entered her new home.
Shortbread was classified as a bread by bakers to avoid paying the tax placed on biscuits.
The Scottish custom of eating shortbread on New Year’s Eve derives from an ancient pagan ritual of eating Yule Cakes.
January 6th of each year is National Shortbread Day.


Shortbread Recipes
Traditional Shortbread Recipe
*condensed from Undiscovered Scotland

Ingredients:


2/3 cup softened butter
1/4 cup ground rice
1/3+ cup caster (superfine) sugar - reserve some for dusting
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 300°F
2. Grease and flour baking sheet
3. Mix butter and sugar until creamy/fluffy
4. Add flour and ground rice and form into a dough
5. Form dough into a ball
6. Flour surface, dough and your hands and knead into a flat, round shape
7. Adding more flour roll the dough into a round with a rolling pin
8. Place the dough on baking sheet
9.With a wooden spoon handle, make indents around the edges
10. Score the dough into 8 segments with a sharp knife
11. Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden at the edges but soft in the middle
12. Cut the dough into segments
13. Allow to cool for 10 minutes and dust with reserved sugar
14. Serve warm or cooled

Cranberry & White Chocolate Shortbread Recipe
*condensed from Joy of Baking.com, by Stephanie Jaworski
Ingredients:


1 stick unsalted butter softened
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup fine yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon rice flour or cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup dried cranberries (or cherries)
1/4 cup white chocolate chips or chunks
Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 300°F
2. Grease and flour a 6" tart pan with removable bottom
3. Mix butter and sugar until smooth
4. Whisk together flour, cornmeal, rice flour and salt and combine with butter/sugar mixture
5. Beat the mixtures until incorporated, and fold in dried cranberries and white chocolate chips
6. Press dough into tart pan and prick the top with a fork
7. Score the top of the shortbread into 8 even pieces and dust with sugar
8. Bake 60-75 minutes or until browned
9. Cool on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes
10. Remove round from tart pan and cut into 8 wedges
11. Cool completely on wire rack

[Lori Berryman]

lovely recipe!! my daughter made it the other day. However, it does take some time to get the butter softened in england lol. I have learned a new respect for my ancestors who must have found it nearly impossible in Scotland!

[Bessie]

a while back I gave some family stories and recipes to my distant cousins site a Cape bretoner nelson Poole http://maenelsonpoole.homestead.com/BessiesPage.html Feel free to use them or I will try to answer ? one of the main things my Mother warned in making shortbread is to beat the butter and suger until it turns white and then the flour is added very ,very gradually .
bessie