This recipe comes in many variations and goes by many names – Royal Scotch Shortbread, Scottish Shortbread, etc. My nanna was the first to bake it in our family, as I remember it, and my mom and I have been tweaking it ever since. This is my version, it’s quite different from my mom’s – which is pretty amazing for a recipe with only five ingredients!
This recipe is all about technique, so I’ve tried to describe it carefully so you get the flakiest, most melt-in-your-mouth shortbread possible. I use my mixmaster because it’s really important to work the first few ingredients. You could probably do it by hand but it would require a lot of muscle and may not give the same results.
- 1 cup butter, softened – I use salted butter
- 3/4 cup icing sugar – I don’t sift mine but you certainly can
- 1/4 cup cornstarch – same comment about sifting!
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 3/4 cup regular all-purpose flour – I use unbleached and again, I don’t sift!
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line a square metal 8×8 pan with parchment paper.
Cream butter and icing sugar until pale – if you’re not sure, cream it longer because the colour really does lighten noticeably. Mix in cornstarch until silky. Rub a little dough between your thumb and finger – it should be silky and smooth. If you feel any graininess, mix it longer. This is your last chance to really smooth it out.
Mix in salt and flour just until blended, don’t overwork the dough now. Press into the prepared pan and smooth as flat as possible. The best trick for this that I’ve found is to wet your fingers with cold water and press the dough out quickly, the dough won’t stick as much if your fingers are wet. It doesn’t have to be perfectly level, the squares are supposed to have some character and will even out as they cook.
Here’s what mine looked like heading into the oven (note this is a double batch, described below):
Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until edges just begin to brown. Let cool enough that you can lift them out of the pan by the parchment edges, without cracking the squares. Slice with a very sharp knife to prevent crumbling. I have a special knife in my kitchen that is only used for cutting squares so that I get crisp clean edges. Spoiled, I know! Cool completely before handling too much so they don’t crumble.
To make a double batch
One batch disappears very quickly, but figuring out how to double this recipe has taken numerous attempts. My family was there to support me and clean up the test versions, don’t worry 😉
Prepare a metal 9×13 baking pan, and double all ingredients except use 1/2 cup less of the flour. Pay as much attention as before to getting the dough silky and smooth before adding the flour and it may take a little longer, since you’re now working with a full pound of butter!
Bake at 325 for about 35 minutes, following the same steps as above.
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