Walkers Shortbread Mini Rounds, Traditional Pure Butter Scottish Recipe, 11g (Pack of 200)

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Shortbread is very simple, very easy to make and once you’ve made it yourself there will be no need to buy it again!

Other ingredients are often substituted for part of the flour to alter the texture. Rice flour or semolina makes it grittier, and cornflour makes it more tender. [3] Bere or oat flour may be added for flavour. [18] In American English, shortbread is different from shortcake. [16] Shortcake usually has a chemical leavening agent such as baking powder, which gives it a different, softer texture, and it was normally split and filled with fruit. [16] The most popular example of this difference is strawberry shortcake. [16] [17] Ingredients [ edit ]

Ingredients You’ll Need

In British English, shortbread and shortcake were synonyms for several centuries, starting in the 1400s; both referred to the crisp, crumbly cookie-type baked good, rather than a softer cake. [16] The "short-cake" mentioned in Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Windsor, first published in 1602, was a reference to the cookie-style of shortbread. [16] Shortbread has been attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots, who in the mid-16th century was said to be very fond of Petticoat Tails, a thin, crisp, buttery shortbread originally flavoured with caraway seeds. At this point stir in any add-ins if using (candied ginger, candied citrus peel, herbs, nuts, etc.) Since we didn't like them my partner took these biscuits to work and her colleagues agreed that these were the best ginger biscuits they tried and that they loved them, so I am just relaying the information. In ancient Scottish folklore, sun-shaped cakes, such as shortbread, had magic powers over the Sun during the Scottish New Year's Eve. [3]

Timothy G. Roufs & Kathleen Smyth Roufs, Sweet Treats around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture (Santa Barbara, 2014), p. 290.Stamp out as many rounds as you can. Lay them onto a baking tray covered in parchment paper. If you need a little help to lift them off the surface, then just slide a floured spatula or off-set spatula under the cookie round and gently lift it up (Image 7). Modern recipes also often deviate from the original by splitting the sugar into equal parts granulated and icing sugar and many add a portion of salt.

I’ve read a few claims that “traditional” Scottish shortbread is made with farola: “Scottish Shortbread is traditionally made with farola, a free-flowing cream coloured and fine granular powder or flour milled from durum wheat.” But the oldest recipes I’ve researched do not, so this “tradition” may be a later/more contemporary one. The more refined version of shortbread as we know it today is attributed to Scotland, in particular to Mary, Queen of Scots in the 16th century. She was particularly fond of what was known as Petticoat Tails, which was a thin shortbread baked in a large circle and cut into triangular segments. In her day the shortbread was commonly flavored with caraway seeds, which were all the rage in British baking for several centuries. In fact, the earliest published shortbread recipes from the 18th century were more elaborate than the standard shortbread today: They were baked with candied citrus peels and garnished with caraway comfits. Rinsky, Glenn (2009). The pastry chef's companion: a comprehensive resource guide for the baking and pastry professional. Laura Halpin Rinsky. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons. p.257. ISBN 978-0-470-00955-0. OCLC 173182689. Tip out the mixture onto a work surface and gently bring it together, then knead it into a dough. Once the dough is formed, wrap it in cling film and chill for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6. Emma Kay, A History of British Baking: From Blood Bread to Bake-Off (Pen & Sword, 2020) pp. 113–114. "Despite the endless citations linking Mary Queen of Scots with 'Petticoat tails', I cannot find any legitimate or authentic links with shortbread and its conception in Scotland. Admittedly, during the 1700s it was the predominant country of manufacture, but not solely and certainly not the first to."Shortbread or shortie is a traditional Scottish biscuit usually made from one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three to four parts plain wheat flour. Shortbread does not contain any leavening, such as baking powder or baking soda. Shortbread is widely associated with Christmas and Hogmanay festivities in Scotland, and some Scottish brands are exported around the world. Place the caster sugar, flour, salt and butter in a food processor and pulse until it’s combined and looks like coarse breadcrumbs but is soft and pliable and comes together in a dough when you press it together between your fingers. If it’s too dry and crumbly it needs to be pulsed a bit longer. The story of shortbread begins with the medieval “biscuit bread”. Any leftover dough from bread making was dried out in a low oven until it hardened into a type of rusk: the word “biscuit” means “twice cooked”. Gradually the yeast in the bread was replaced by butter, and biscuit bread developed into shortbread. Put the butter and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and blitz until well combined. Add the flour and pulse briefly until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. There are only three ingredients so they need to be right – this definitely isn’t the time to swap butter for margarine, or caster sugar for other sugars.

Shortbread was an expensive luxury and for ordinary people, shortbread was a special treat reserved just for special occasions such as weddings, Christmas and New Year. In Shetland it was traditional to break a decorated shortbread cake over the head of a new bride on the threshold of her new home. The custom of eating shortbread at New Year has its origins in the ancient pagan Yule Cakes which symbolised the sun. In Scotland it is still traditionally offered to “first footers” at New Year. Form dough into a log. Incorporate the mix-ins throughout the dough and work with your hands to press it together into a log about 4 inches in diameter. Wrap with plastic wrap, and while the dough should hold together, the plastic wrap can be helpful in keeping it all together. a b c d e f g h Brown, Catherine (2015-04-01). "Shortbread". The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-931362-4.Prepare shortbread dough. Beat butter until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and vanilla, and beat longer until light and fluffy. Add flour and salt and mix until dough comes together. It will be quite shaggy but hold together when pressed. Now that you have your shortbread dough nailed, you have the perfect base recipe to then be able to flavour your shortbread. You can add as much or as little as your like! Here are just some ingredients that you can add. Be sure to measure flour correctly! All of my recipes are tested using the spoon and level method (more info through that link). Too much flour and cookie dough won’t hold together.