Ingredients and yield
Yield: approximately 16 biscuits.
- 50 g caster sugar
- 100 g unsalted butter, cool but pliable
- 150 g plain flour
- Fine salt, optional but recommended
Method
- Mix sugar and butter until evenly combined without building unnecessary aeration.
- Add the flour and mix only until a coherent dough forms.
- Chill for 30 minutes, roll or press to an even thickness, cut, then chill again for 10–15 minutes.
- Bake at 170°C / 338°F conventional or 150°C / 302°F fan for about 10–12 minutes, keeping the biscuits pale with only light edge colour.
- Cool on the tray until firm enough to move.
Texture and variations
Shortbread is a low-water, unleavened Scottish butter biscuit whose short texture comes from fat limiting gluten development. The 1:2:3 sugar-butter-flour ratio is a useful classical reference, not a universal legal definition.
Rice flour or cornflour, different sugar types and thicker moulded formats are legitimate variations. They change tenderness and spread, so I try them as separate variations rather than changing several parts of the recipe at once.
What I watch closely
- Do not cream aggressively: excess air increases spread and weakens the dense shortbread character.
- Stop mixing as soon as the flour is incorporated.
- Chill shaped dough before baking.
- Bake pale; deep browning materially changes the butter-forward profile.