Thursday 16 December 2021

Advent Photos 2021. December 16th and Shortbread

First of all must say thank you to everyone for comments over the last two days that I've failed miserably at replying to for no good reason that I can think of.

Anyway onto today's post..................

Why do the shops sell more shortbread at Christmas than any other time of the year?

Shortbread originated in Scotland and was expensive to make, so was often given as a gift at Hogmany and weddings. The idea might have first come from French pastry chefs when Scotland and France were often allies. 

According to wiki the first printed recipe, in 1736, was from a Scotswoman named Mrs McLintock. In my book 'Christmas Fare' by Judith Holder and Alison Harding they include a recipe from a 19C cookery book by a Mrs Dalgairn which includes 'caraway comfits' (sugared caraway seeds) and then 50 years later the more well known English cook Eliza Atkins gives a recipe for 'Good Scottish Shortbread' which was remarkably similar to Mrs Dalgairn's ..........

With one pound of flour mix well two ounces of sifted sugar and one of candied orange-rind or citron sliced small; make these into a paste with from eight to nine ounces of good butter, made sufficiently warm to be liquid; press the paste together with the hands and mould it upon tins into large cakes 1 inch thick, pinch the edges, and bake in a moderate oven for twenty minutes, or longer should it not be quite crisp, but do not allow it to become deeply coloured.

 Another recipe included in 'Christmas Fare' is said to come from Ayrshire and is a rich shortbread using cream and eggs and no peel and was always made into a round and cut into 'petticoat tails'. So named because of their shape or maybe a corruption of the French petits galettes  - little cakes.

Walkers Shortbread Petticoat Tail Shortbread, 150 g
photo from internet

For years I had a recipe for Shortbread given to me by Great Aunt Ann, who I think was originally from Scotland. It used a mix of flour and cornflour along with butter and castor/icing sugar - but somewhere in the last 20 years that recipe disappeared from my folder to be replaced by a recipe from the lady who made shortbread biscuits every week for the WI Country Market in Framlingham. Wish I hadn't lost that old recipe as it was made by pressing the mix into a round tin whereas the more recent has to be rolled into a cylinder shape, chilled and then sliced - more fiddly.

This is the WI recipe, very traditional and using only 3 ingredients in 3:2:1 ratio

9oz Plain Flour
6oz Butter
3oz castor sugar
Mix until it forms a ball, gently form the ball into a cylinder shape, wrap in cling film and chill in fridge for ½ hour. Slice into thin rounds, lay on non stick paper on baking sheet then preheated oven 160℃ for 5 minutes, then 1 minute at a time watching closely until just beginning to colour - don't let them brown.
 
 I like shortbread, preferring them to any other biscuits and the bought ones are often made from the basics without any weird added ingredients. I bought some to pop in the cupboard, just in case, not in the specially made Christmas tins, but just in the normal cardboard box packaging.
 
They come with a bit of history.................. Although Paterson's have been taken over by Burtons and probably no longer even made in Scotland.
 

 
Back Tomorrow
Sue


33 comments:

  1. Shortbread is one of my favourite things to eat. I would happily pass on any slice of cake or biscuit for a piece of good shortbread.
    You do realise I will have to bake some now :) X

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    Replies
    1. Only a chocolate cake of some sort beats a good piece of shortbread!

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  2. Interesting summing up Sue on a delicious biscuit. Also one of my favourites.

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    Replies
    1. Always a Christmas treat - I'm tempted by the pretty tins every year and then remember that most of their cost is for the tin and I really don't need an empty tin in the house after Christmas!

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  3. My grandmother made the best shortbread ever - her recipe used castor sugar for a finer texture, and some sweetened condensed milk. It too was meant to be made into a log and sliced - she simply rolled it out like pastry and cut it into squares and marked the top of each with a fork.

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    Replies
    1. There's definitely a trick to not over baking so it doesn't dry out

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  4. Our smallholding neighbour back in Carms always made delicious Shortbread to gift to us every Christmas. It's something I never make, I have to say. The Eliza Atkins recipe sounds very simple.

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  5. Shortbread ... my most favourite biscuit in the whole wide world and the only thing I have never really enjoyed as much since being dairy free. There's just something so luscious about the buttery biscuit dissolving in your mouth, I rarely bought a round of petticoat tails as I would demolish it all in one sitting.

    Now I have found a dairy-free butter that tastes just like Lurpak I might have another go at making some for myself. The bought ones are just okay, but nothing so special that you can't stop eating them.

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    Replies
    1. It's good that there is a tasty dairy free butter now - so many lovely things on the 'free-from' shelves nowadays

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  6. I LOVE shortbread. I'm not sure if it's because I'm Scottish - or just have a sweet tooth! - but I love it! I wondered about the WI recipe. Bake for 5 minutes? Mine - using the same 3:2:1 ratio - takes 20 to 25 minutes at 160ºC. I might have to bake some just to be sure that's right! 🤣

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    1. 5 minutes doesn't seem much perhaps I missed out a 1 and it should be 15 minutes. I;ve not baked them for ages but do seem to remember openeing the oven to check lots of times so probably longer is correct

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  7. At our W.I. produce show we always had a class for Shortbread and lots of different variations were received.
    I know shortbread are one of my favorite biscuits.
    Hazel 🌈🌈

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    Replies
    1. I do hope shows are able to go ahead next year - I missed entering the last two years

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  8. I always make the WI recipe - it works so very well every time and it's easy to add extra flavourings, if you want. Lemon or orange zest is lovely (apologies if that is WI heresy).
    xx

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    Replies
    1. I'm now regretting buying some and think I should have baked my own instead!

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  9. My grandmother always had a tin of walker's shortbread around the holidays. she was a very English cook and a good baker, but she never made short bread. I did love her fruit cake. I don't have the recipe and have never tasted one I like since she passed.
    Cathy

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    Replies
    1. Walkers are probably the best - Patersons are probably cheap imitations!

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  10. I too like shortbread cookies this time of year. I haven't baked any yet but do think I will soon. I also have a great recipe but can't find it! I gave my daughter a huge cookie jar in the shape of an orange full of recipes when she married 20 years ago. I wonder if she still has them. I should have hung onto them because she doesn't cook that much. Your post has jogged my memory and I shall ask her about it. Maybe I can ask for them back, lol.💖

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    Replies
    1. When my son left home he would often ring up for a recipe or instructions on how to cook something. He does a better roast dinner than me now although leaves the baking to my DiL and granddaughter who loves to help

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  11. Shortbread is one of my go-to recipes - also a WI one, but 12oz plain flour/8oz butter/4oz caster sugar. I melt the butter then tip everything else in (I do substitute 2oz custard powder for 2oz flour), mix with a knife and press into two sandwich tins. BAke at 150C fan for 40 minutes, sprinkle with caster sugar. My husband volunteers at the Dyfi Osprey Project and this is my contribution for the volunteers.

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    Replies
    1. Now custard powder is a different idea - almost the equal of my old recipe with cornflour.
      I bet the volunteers love it

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  12. Shortbread cookies with a cup of coffee or tea is especially nice on a cold Winter afternoon. Walkers is my favorite and I always have a box or two in my pantry.

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    Replies
    1. I'm really going to have to bake my own again after reading everyone's ideas! or look for Walkers

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  13. It's very satisfying and doesn't give you a dry mouth.

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    1. I find some other shop-bought biscuits are like eating sawdust! but shortbread is always good - even the very cheap

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  14. i live two miles from Walkers shortbread factory and if the wind is in the right direction you can smell it! they only use butter, always have done and always will i would think, word was they made for harrods and lidl too, i always read your blog so thank you writing it so regularly

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    1. I guess that makes everyone feel very peckish when the wind is right.
      Harrods and Lidl - quite a difference in price I bet!
      I'm glad you enjoy my wafflings - I love writing

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  15. My introduction to shortbread was through my oldest friend. Her father had been a baker in Scotland and made the most delectable shortbread on the planet. She has taken over the shortbread making from her father now that he is gone. When Kathleen's shortbread isn't available to me .. I make due with Walkers. Shortbread is essential for Christmas!

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    1. Yes, Very essential for Christmas although I think I should have made my own rather than cheating!

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  16. Interesting. I always used to make shortbread. I had a round stoneware dish that had a design in it and you just pressed down the shortbread dough. Everyone was always impressed as they thought it took forever and it was so easy! I really need to find up my recipe and the dish again so I can make it!

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