Scottish Shortbread

Scottish Shortbread

We got this recipe at a Scottish festival. One of the women there had great samples. Mark asked for the recipe and she gave it to us, because we had asked. Our favorites are the basic, the toffee and the lemon.

Basic Recipe
1 c butter (NOT margarine, NOT low-fat, just real butter)
1 c powdered sugar
1 t vanilla
2 c flour
4 T rice flour
pinch of salt
Cream butter and sugar well. Add salt, vanilla, rice flour and regular flour. Mix well. Press into shortbread mold, 9x13 or pie pans. Cut into squares or wedges and prick entire surface with a fork. Bake at 250’ for about 35-40 minutes until edges and top start to lightly brown. Remove from oven and cool for just a couple minutes. Then re-cut (it’s too hard to cut if you wait too long). Always store shortbread in an airtight container.
Variations
Vanilla Butter Toffee
Add 1 cup heath toffee pieces and 1 t vanilla extract. Can change sugar to ¼ c brown and ¼ c powdered.
Almond
Add ½ cup finely chopped almonds and replace vanilla with 2 t almond extract. Can add cherry chips for cherry almond shortbread.
Orange Spice
Replace vanilla with 2 t orange extract, add 1 T dried orange peel, 1 t cinnamon and 1 t nutmeg.
Lemon or Orange Poppy Seed
Replace vanilla with either 2 t lemon or orange extract, add 1 T dried lemon or orange peel, and 2 T poppy seeds.
Caramel-Scotch
Add 1 cup butterscotch pieces and 1 t vanilla extract.
Ginger
Add 1 ½ t ginger and ½ c crystallized ginger pieces.