Shortbread cookie

Shortbread

Fully cooked shortbread rounds on a baking sheet
Type	Cake
Place of origin	Scotland
Main ingredients	Flour, butter, white sugar
Other information	glycaemic load 40 (100 g)

Shortbread is a Scottish biscuit traditionally made from one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three parts flour. Other ingredients like ground rice or cornflour are sometimes added to alter the texture. 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.

Shortbread is different from shortcake, though they are similar: shortcake can be made using vegetable fat instead of butter and usually has a chemical leavening agent such as baking powder, which gives it a different texture. Shortbread biscuits are often associated with normal egg-based biscuits, but they hold their shape under pressure, making them ideal for packed meals.

Shortbread originated in Scotland, with the first printed recipe, in 1736, from a Scotswoman named Mrs McLintock. Shortbread is widely associated with Christmas and Hogmanay festivities in Scotland, and the Scottish brand Walkers Shortbread is exported around the world. As a Scottish product, shortbread is sometimes packaged in a tartan design, such as Royal Stewart tartan.

Shortbread is baked at a low temperature to avoid browning. When cooked, it is nearly white, or a light golden brown. It may be sprinkled with more sugar while cooling. It may even be crumbly before cooled, but will become firmer after cooling.

Shortbread is traditionally formed into one of three shapes: one large circle, which is divided into segments as soon as it is taken out of the oven (petticoat tails, which may have been named from the French petits cotés, a pointed biscuit eaten with wine, or petites gastelles, the old French for little cakes); individual round biscuits (shortbread rounds); or a thick (¾" or 2 cm) oblong slab cut into fingers.