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

Product Information

It's a style of biscuit (as called in the UK) or cookie (as called in the US) that originates from Scotland. Due to its high fat content, the formation of gluten is inhibited resulting in shortbread having an extremely 'short' tender texture. The bites themselves are very cheesy, too much for me. However, the two cheese eaters of the family find these really nice and more-ish. A box disappeared before my eyes while writing this review. We’re making Scottish shortbread the traditional way with just 3 ingredients: Flour, Sugar and Butter. Well, and a tiny pinch of salt, too. Nothing else is needed, no fancy ingredients, no flavor enhancers. The key to a good Scottish shortbread is the quality of the butter. That is what flavors the shortbread and the shortbread is only as good as the butter.

Beat butter until smooth and creamy, 2-3 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla, and beat for an additional 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Stop and scrape down the bowl a few times as needed. Measurements: Were the ingredients measured out properly? Too much flour will dry out the cookie dough and then bake time may need to be reduced. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead for a few moments until smooth – avoid over-handling as this warms the dough. Roll out on a lightly floured surface and stamp out biscuits with a 6cm cutter. Re-roll the dough trimmings, and stamp out more biscuits until you’ve used up all your dough and have about 24 biscuits in total.

Ingredients

Using a wooden spoon, beat the butter and caster sugar together until combined – the mixture doesn’t need to be light and fluffy. Add the flour and salt and work in with the wooden spoon, then use your hand to bring the mixture together. Triangular wedges of shortbread became known as "petticoat tails", and this form of shortbread has become particularly associated with Mary, Queen of Scots. [6] It has been suggested that a French term for the wedges of shortbread was petits gâteaux or petites gatelles – little cakes, and this became "petticoat tails". It is now thought the Scots term derives from the decorated round edge of the segments which resemble petticoats. [7]

You can choose to leave the shortbread plain (still delicious!), try all 4 variations, or choose just a few. 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] a b c d e Mariani, John F. (2014-02-04). Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p.1034. ISBN 978-1-62040-161-3. You can either buy caster sugar (it’s overpriced) or make you’re own, which is what I do. Super easy: Just put the sugar in a blender or coffee/spice grinder and pulse until it’s very fine.No, though if you don’t want to soften your butter, you should rub the butter into the other ingredients instead of mixing it into the sugar. There are two theories regarding the name of these biscuits. It has been suggested that the name “petticoat tail” may be a corruption of the French petites gatelles (“little cakes”). It can be hard to know when shortbread is baked through. Not baked for long enough and it's wet and claggy, too long and it's dry and crisp. 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."

The biscuit is crunchy indeed, but in my opinion, it is a tad too hard, and especially so if it is not eaten within few days. The stiff dough retains its shape well during cooking. The biscuits are often patterned before cooking, usually with the tines of a fork or with a springerle-type mold. Shortbread is sometimes shaped into hearts and other shapes for special occasions.

1 Recipe, 4 Variations

Hi Sarah, Yes, absolutely you can. You can even roll the log in chopped nuts or sprinkles before freezing. Enjoy