Recipe: Traditional Scottish Shortbread (Petticoat Tails)

Burns Night is celebrated on 25 January every year to commemorate Scotland's most famous poet, Robert Burns. I do take a great interest in anything Scottish, and I feel it is only apt to post something Scottish today.

We love Scottish shortbread, and this was actually the first of two (the other being Delia Smith's) shortbread recipes which we tried over the Christmas period. Traditional shortbread is either shaped like fingers or petticoat tails.

To make these buttery golden shortbread, all the ingredients are mixed together until you get a smooth dough, then press into a loose bottomed pie/cake tin, prick all over and score into 8 wedges. This batch of shortbread was made by Baby C and daddy.

This shortbread has a shorter baking time compared to Delia's, however the resulting shortbread is slightly more gritty but nevertheless buttery and delicious.Out of the two recipes, I prefer Delia's.

Some other Scottish recipes here for you to explore: Scottish shortbread (Delia Smith), Haggis, neeps and tatties, mince and tatties, Stovies and Scottish oatcakes.

Baby C did a great job making these Scottish shortbread

Traditional Scottish Shortbread
Recipe adapted from Good Food Channel - Mary Berry
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 25-30 minutes
Makes 8 wedges


Ingredients
120g plain flour, sifted
60g caster sugar
120g salted butter, softened at room temperature
60g semolina (suji)


1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (no fan).

2. Place all the ingredients together in a bowl, and mix well (using your hands) until you get a smooth dough. You can also use a food processor if you like.

Mix the ingredients until you get a smooth dough

3. Press into a 24cm loose bottomed cake/pie tin, or alternatively roll the shortbread out to form a circle with a 24cm diameter and flute the edge.

4. Prick gently over the top with a fork and using a sharp knife/pizza cutter, score the surface of the round into 8 even wedges. Sprinkle with a little more caster sugar (optional- I skipped this).

5. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until firm. It will look pale golden when it's done.

5. Set aside to cool a little, but cut into wedges while still slightly warm. Store in an airtight tin once cooled completely.

I am submitting this to the "Baby Sumo's Christmas Recipes Collection 2013" event which I am hosting. You can link your recipes here.

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