Recipe

Classic Scottish Pan Shortbread Cookies

This shortbread recipe is one of the cookies I normally add to any Christmas cookie tray I make to give away -- and too, too, many of them get eaten by the cook as well!

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by Cheryl

Years ago, I bought a lovely, heavy duty shortbread pan — which I bring out once a year at the holidays to make this traditional Scottish shortbread recipe. I don’t know why I don’t make it more often. Laziness? Shortbread is a yummy treat at any time of year!

Scottish Shortbread Recipe

Classic Scottish Pan Shortbread Cookies This shortbread recipe is one of the cookies I normally add to any Christmas cookie tray I make to give away -- and too, too, many of them get eaten by the cook as well! shortbread cookie plate 3

Shortbread Cookies

I make these every year at the holidays. While these are lovely and bake best in a custom heavy-duty shortbread pan, you can make these in a regular flat cake pan and then cut them into squares or wedges.
The number of servings, here, is based on my shortbread pan that makes nine shortbread squares.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine Scottish
Servings 9 servings
Calories 238 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 Stand Mixer OR a hand mixer will do as well.
  • 1 Shortbread Pan Or you can just use a regular cake pan. If you use one of the stoneware vs the metal shortbread pans, you may need to adjust your bake time a bit.
  • 1 Wood Cutting Board A plastic one will also work, but I prefer wood for kneading the dough. A pizza peel would work as well — something large enough to cover the pan to help turn out the cookies.
  • 1 Fork for poking the dough
  • 1 Knife optional; only if you're going to cut up some cranberries to make the variation
  • 1 Citrus Zester optional; only if you plan to add orange zest to make the cranberry-orange variation

Ingredients
  

  • .75 cup butter softened or at room temperature
  • .5 cup powdered sugar
  • .5 tsp vanilla
  • 1.5 cup flour white all-purpose flour is best

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees
  • Coat the pan with cooking spray — or you can use oil — but do so lightly and if you have a pan with detailed designs, use a pastry brush to spread the oil so it's not welling up inside the details.
    Classic Scottish Pan Shortbread Cookies This shortbread recipe is one of the cookies I normally add to any Christmas cookie tray I make to give away -- and too, too, many of them get eaten by the cook as well! brush oil in the pan
  • Use your mixer to cream the butter.
    Classic Scottish Pan Shortbread Cookies This shortbread recipe is one of the cookies I normally add to any Christmas cookie tray I make to give away -- and too, too, many of them get eaten by the cook as well! cream the butter
  • Beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla.
    Classic Scottish Pan Shortbread Cookies This shortbread recipe is one of the cookies I normally add to any Christmas cookie tray I make to give away -- and too, too, many of them get eaten by the cook as well! add powdered sugar and butter
  • Work in the flour on low speed until combined and then take it out of your mixing bowl, put it on your (clean) counter or a board and knead the dough until it's smooth. I added an additional Tbsp of flour during the process to make the dough easier to handle and I think the final cookies turned out better for it. Also, if you want to mix in cranberries and orange zest — or anything else — you can knead it into your dough now.
    Classic Scottish Pan Shortbread Cookies This shortbread recipe is one of the cookies I normally add to any Christmas cookie tray I make to give away -- and too, too, many of them get eaten by the cook as well! adding the flour
  • Press the dough into your pan.
    Classic Scottish Pan Shortbread Cookies This shortbread recipe is one of the cookies I normally add to any Christmas cookie tray I make to give away -- and too, too, many of them get eaten by the cook as well! dough pressed into pan
  • Poke the surface gently with a fork. Not all the way through! If you've purchased Scottish shorbread before, you may have noted that the back has some little indentations!
    Classic Scottish Pan Shortbread Cookies This shortbread recipe is one of the cookies I normally add to any Christmas cookie tray I make to give away -- and too, too, many of them get eaten by the cook as well! dough poked with fork
  • Put it in the preheated oven and bake it for 30-35 minutes. It should be just lightly browned, but not dark brown.
    Classic Scottish Pan Shortbread Cookies This shortbread recipe is one of the cookies I normally add to any Christmas cookie tray I make to give away -- and too, too, many of them get eaten by the cook as well! lightly browned baked shortbread in pan
  • Remove from oven, let it cool a bit (10-15 min) and then turn it gently out of the pan onto a cutting board. I generally do this by sticking the board on the pan and then turning both over together so the shortbread doesn't just fall out of the pan.
    Classic Scottish Pan Shortbread Cookies This shortbread recipe is one of the cookies I normally add to any Christmas cookie tray I make to give away -- and too, too, many of them get eaten by the cook as well! square pan shortbread
  • When the shortbread is removed from the pan, cut it while it's still warm.
  • Eat and enjoy!
    Classic Scottish Pan Shortbread Cookies This shortbread recipe is one of the cookies I normally add to any Christmas cookie tray I make to give away -- and too, too, many of them get eaten by the cook as well! shortbread cookie plate 2

Notes

Variations

Orange-cranberry shortbread

I added 3 Tbsp of chopped dried cranberries and 2 tsp of orange zest (I actually did not have oranges on hand this last time and used mandarins and it turned out OK) into the dough kneading. Turned out well — if I’d wanted even more citrus, I’d have added more zest or used orange oil.

Chocolate-dipped

I didn’t do this, but I think these would be good partially dipped in melted milk chocolate and then hardened.

Nutrition

Calories: 238kcalCarbohydrates: 23gProtein: 2gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 10gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 122mgPotassium: 27mgFiber: 1gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 473IUCalcium: 8mgIron: 1mg
Keyword Christmas, Cookies
Cuisine Scottish
Tried this recipe?Please consider Leaving a Review!

Variations

If you’d like to dress it up a bit, you can add a bit of orange oil and/or orange zest and a bit of chopped-up dried cranberry for cranberry-orange shortbread. Or melt some chocolate and dip part of the (cooled) cookies in chocolate!

Top Shortbread Pans

The pan I’ve long used is the square Nordic Ware English shortbread pan (read my review here) which makes nine squares. It’s a nice, heavy-duty metal pan and I’ve had good results with it. I also own their snowflake pan, which is also great but has a more seasonal design.

The recipe above is based on using such a pan. If you use a standard cake pan, or a ceramic/stoneware pan, you may need to adjust your bake times a bit. That shouldn’t be too difficult, however — just keep an eye on it and remove it from the oven when nicely browned.

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Terms for this post:

Uncategorized

Baking | Christmas Cookies | Christmas Recipes | Cookies | Desserts | Holiday Recipes | Recipes | Shortbread

Courses | Baked Goods | Cookies | Cuisine | Dessert | Diet | Scottish | Treats

Christmas cookies | NordicWare | Scottish | shortbread

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