Shortbread

Here's a good recipe for shortbread.  The taste reminds me of pecan sandies without the pecans.

Robertson Shortbread  (from Judi Hood)
4 cups flour
1/8 tsp. soda
pinch salt
1 cup packed brown sugar

Mix well together and warm in oven for 5 min.
Cut in 1 pound butter and then knead well with hands
until the cookie batter is very well blended.  Roll in wax
paper and refrigerate it until firm.  Cut into slices and press
onto cookie sheet with fork. Bake on top shelf of oven at
350 F. for 10 minutes.

This is to die for....I grew up with shortbread and it was ok. But this is really good.
Thanks for posting it.........

This is a recipe for a shortbread which has a richer, darker, texture and colour than the usual recipe. Maybe you want to give it a try.

BUTTERSCOTCH SHORTBREAD

Ingredients for Shortbread:

4oz Butter (softened)
2oz soft dark brown sugar
5 drops of vanilla essence
5 oz flour
1 oz ground almonds
caster sugar (for sprinkling)



Method:

Set the oven to 300F or gas mark2. Grease a baking tray. In a seperate bowl, cream the butter with 1oz of the sugar adding the vanilla essence. Gradually work in the flour and ground almonds to the mixture. Mix in the remaining sugar.


Turn the mixture out on to a floured flat surface and knead well. Press or roll out into a round shape approx 1/2 inch thick and place on the baking tray. Prick all over with a fork and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes. Before baking you may sprinkle the caster sugar over the top. This is a personal preference option.


After baking, place on a wire rack to cool.

Thanks, yes I will give it a try........Let you know

You're welcome!

If you liked the previous one, this is another shortbread variation:


CARAMEL SHORTBREAD

This is a recipe for Caramel Shortbread which is also known as millionaires shortbread or caramel shortcake. In many ways it is more like a biscuit than a cake and definitely NOT bread-very much for those with a sweet tooth.

Ingredients:

4oz Butter
4oz caster Sugar
5oz self raising flour
Pinch of salt


Topping:

4oz Butter
4oz caster sugar
1 dessert spoon golden syrup
Small tin condensed milk


Method:

Set oven to 350F or mark4. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl, then mix in the flour and salt. Knead this mixture into a ball. Press the mixture into a greased shallow tin approx 11x7 inches and bake for 20 minutes.


For the topping, put all the topping ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Continue boiling until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and starts to change colour.


Pour the mixture over the shortbread, spreading out evenly and leave to cool.Cut into slices (fingers) and serve


Another option is, once previous mixture is cool, melt some chocolate and spread evenly over the caramel toffee. Then cut into fingers and serve as a biscuit.

Gaberlunzie, that sounds like a Christmas treat, with the topping and chocolate.
Just waiting for the hot weather to clear, to start baking again, and I'm going to try that fancy recipe.

I also want to try the topping without the chocolate, but with some Drambuie added to the condensed milk.

Just a suggestion -- if you want a heartier shortbread, try substituting oat flour for a quarter of the regular flour. You can even put rolled oats in the blender and whir them into a coarse flour, and sift out any flakes (or not). I think Gaberlunzie's idea of using dark brown sugar would work deliciously with this variation.

Drambuie is a great idea, stormeil.
I like the idea with the oat flour; I'm not sure how heavy it would become along with the almonds but it's worth a try in any case...

Thank you for your suggestions; they are very appreciated!

I will be attending a social at my grandson's school, Omega Academy Prep, on the 9th and plan to make both the butterscotch and the caramel. I'll let you know which is liked the most. They both sound lovely to me.

Thank you so much, I do appreciate it.

You're most welcome. And yes, please let me know which one was your favorite.

Just to let you know the shortbread disappeared so fast I thought someone stole it.
Had two huge platter full and one pass around found me with two empty platters and several asking where they come from and what were they. Geez, I had to print off the recipes and pass them around, I used your screen name as the source. Hope that was alright.

Yep, both of the shortbreads were a major hit, again thank you so much. My daughter wants to make Christmas plates of the two different shortbreads. So thats what we will do along with a tag that states, "Scottish Shortbreads Recipes, courtesy of Gaberlunzie".

I'm glad they loved the shortbread!

Feel free to use the recipes and as much as I feel honored, Donajhi - you could skip the "courtesy of gaberlunzie" part; the best compliment for everyone is when folks is asking for the recipe of something homemade. So it's okay, I'm glad I could help you.

As you wish, love. Thanks

how do these recipes compare to "Walkers" shortbread?
i am nuts about that stuff.

does anyone have a Walkers recipe?

I doubt that Walker's would give their recipe away. Their shortbread is really good; we have a little shop in our town that sells whisky, shortbread cookies, marmelade and a lot more delicious stuff from Scotland. I'm there looking for new goodies whenever I get a chance and a bit money left...

You should try the Butterscotch recipe and make up your mind yourself. It's an original at least.
Good luck!

These really sound wonderful. I am going to try them next chance I get. Shortbread cookies are one of my favorites. Thank you for posting this recipe.

Slainte