Scotch Shortbread
six piecesIngredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Beat the butter to a cream.
Gradually dredge in the flour.
Add the sugar, caraway seeds, and sweet almonds, which should be blanched and cut into small pieces.
Work the paste until it is quite smooth.
Shape the cakes
Divide it into six pieces.
Put each cake on a separate piece of paper.
Roll the paste out square to a thickness of about an inch.
Pinch it upon all sides.
Prick it well.
Ornament with one or two strips of candied orange peel.
Bake
Put the cakes into a good oven.
Bake them from 25 to 30 minutes.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Butter (in the method)
- Creamed with the sugar to give the shortbread its rich, tender texture.
- Flour (in the method)
- Forms the structure of the paste, setting as it bakes.
- Sugar (in the method)
- Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown lightly in the oven.
- Sweet almonds (in the method)
- Add nutty flavour and a little richness to the paste.
The step that matters
Work the paste until it is quite smooth. Thorough working of the dough evenly blends the fat into the flour, so the cakes bake up crisp and tender rather than uneven or crumbly.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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