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Scottish Shortbread

A couple of high school friends who are now living in London visited us two weeks ago, and they brought me a tin of Marks & Spencer Scottish Shortbread. Shortbread is one of my favorite things in the world, so even though I haven't tried Marks and Spencer's, I was definitely delighted. The tin itself is very nice. It's depicting an old red English telephone box with a variety of characters each waiting their turn to use the phone. Such a collector's item! When I tried what's inside, I was even more delighted. I just loved how delicious these all-butter Scottish shortbread by M&S were! They have the usual melt-in-your-mouth goodness but have a different texture compared to the ones that I usually make and the shortbread brands that I usually buy here like Walker, Archer Farms and Voortman. I checked the ingredients and found out that aside from wheat flour, it also has rice and corn flour. So what did I do? Of course I tried making them! I added rice flour and corn meal (since I don't have corn flour) to my favorite recipe...and my goodness, those two ingredients added the most heavenly texture to the shortbread which I've always thought was the best! Now, I know there's a better shortbread recipe...thanks to my good friends, Ces & Elaine! I'll surely be thinking of them and their visit to Texas everytime I bake Scottish Shortbread (^.^)


Ingredients:

  • 1 1/8 cup unsalted butter
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup white rice flour
  • 3 Tbsp corn meal
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions:
1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the rice flour, corn meal, all purpose flour, salt and vanilla extract and mix until well incorporated. 
2. Shape dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Knead dough to soften a bit then roll out until ¼ inch thick. Cut into desired shapes using a cookie cutter. (>I shaped 1/3 of the dough into flowers and 2/3 into pumpkins, bats, ghosts and cats which are perfect for Halloween.) Arrange on prepared cookie sheets about ½ inch apart.
4. Place the unbaked cookies on the baking sheet in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until bottom of cookies are starting to brown. Remove from oven and allow to completely cool down. Serve as is or decorate as desired.
 
Note: It's Halloween so I decided to shape and decorate these Shortbread cookies using White Chocolate Cream Cheese Glaze...but I tell you, they are definitely good as is!



A SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO YOU ALL!

17 comments :

  1. Tina these look super cute, i love scottish bread they are so buttery and super tasty. I love the halloween shapes and the icing on top :) too cute

    Priya
    60 Days to Christmas
    Cook like Priya

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  2. We're glad you liked the cookies but I'm sure your version is more heavenly! Ces and I look forward to our next visit in Texas. We love your lovely home and family, the hot home-cooked meals and goodie! We miss you! Hugs and kisses!

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    1. It was nice to have you and Ces! Thanks so much for the visit!
      Hope we could visit you in London someday!

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  3. Oh Tina, these cookies look so cute...like how you decorated them...perfect for the Halloween :)
    Have a great week and Happy Halloween!

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  4. Cute cookies! I love that stuff, and buy it every Christmas in the cute little plaid Walker Shortbread box. I'd like mine even better if it came in a cool phone box tin! :-)

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  5. They look super cool cookies for Halloween!

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  6. What's the difference between Scottish shortbread and normal shortbread? Or is shortbread inherently Scottish?

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    1. Shortbread is inherently Scottish but because of its popularity, many varieties exist today.

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  7. Very cute and yummy!!! very nicely done.
    Sowmya
    Ongoing Event + Giveaway - CEDD – HONEY
    Ongoing Event - CWF - Whole Wheat Flour

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  8. Cute and yummy short bread perfect for Halloween...Lovely shape...

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  9. Hi Tina, your Halloween cookies look cool and super cute. Nice work, so neat and tidy.

    Have a nice week ahead.

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  10. How cute, I loved the telephone box!I believe shortbread is everyone's favorite, the key is good butter and a lot of it :)
    The cookies are cut in cute way too, I'll definitely go for the cat and the bat!

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  11. i was literally just looking for a shortbread recipe for some twix bars I wanted to make. This one looks perfect! The cookies are soo cute

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  12. Cute cookies,perfect for Halloween

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  13. These are really cute, but I bet they taste delicious as well! Hope you and your family had a wonderful Halloween!

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  14. FYI - Brit speak corn flour = American speak corn starch! I've seen various shortbread recipes with it. cute cookies, Aloha Ann

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    1. Thanks Ann! Yes, that's how it is. Corn flour in Brit recipes is used synonymously with cornstarch in American recipes...but I've always thought of corn flour and cornstarch as two different products, the corn flour being milled from the whole kernel while cornstarch comes from the endosperm portion of the kernel. I grew up using cornstarch only as a thickening agent. :)

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