By request from Betsy Weber, I’m revealing my granny’s shortbread recipe (with permission).
Ingredients
- 200g plain flour
- 100g Butter
- 50g Castor Sugar (called superfine sugar in the US)
Method
- Mix the flour and sugar together
- Cut the butter in to pieces.
- Using fingertips rub it into the mixture until evenly distributed (almost like bread crumbs)
- Knead the mixture together into a soft but not sticky dough.
- Divide the mixture and shape into rounds (about 1cm thick).
- Place rounds on greased baking tray(s)
- Bake at gas mark 3 / 325°F / 160°C for about 45 minutes until the shortbread is a pale golden colour.
- Cool before storing in an air-tight container
Variations
Instead of rounds, the mix can be spread out over a rectangular tray and cut in to fingers after baking, but before cooling.
I should also note that following the recipe above will not give the same results as the 8 decades worth of expertise in lovingly baking shortbread that my granny has. As a child the first thing I asked for when visiting was always: Did you make any shortbread?
The Blog of Colin Mackay 