3 Ingredient Shortbread Recipe (traditional Scottish)

Thank you Emerson Creek Pottery for the recipe.


Traditional Scottish Shortbread Recipe
Authentic Scottish Shortbread is made of just 3 ingredients: butter, sugar and flour. It gets its name Shortbread because shortening is the crucial factor in this rich, buttery cookie. Over the years, creative bakers have dreamed up recipes for all kinds of new takes on traditional shortbread - chocolate, with nuts, with fancy flavorings like rosewater or lavender blossoms, with chocolate chips or savory anise seeds. You can't really go wrong with adding special touches to the basic recipe, but first it's important to make sure you've got that basic recipe down! Follow these steps for making perfect, authentic Scottish shortbread cookies:
Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup room temperature butter
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Cream the butter in a bowl, using the back of a large spoon or frosting knife. When it is soft, creamy and light, it is properly creamed. Dust the powdered sugar into the bowl as you continue to make the creaming motion with your utensil. Once it is gently worked in, add the flour, mixing in with a few good whisks of your utensil. It is also fine to mix the dough in a mixer. Turn the mixture out onto a bread board and knead it gently with your hands until the 3 ingredients become a uniform, soft texture. Form into a ball.
Spray your mold lightly with a non-stick vegetable oil spray and set the ball of shortbread dough in the middle of it. Working from the center of the dough outward, press the shortbread out so that it completely and evenly fills the shortbread mould. Prick the surface of the cookie dough all over with a fork. Don't skip the pricking step as it is key to the texture of the finished shortbread.
Place the shortbread pan in an oven set to 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Remember that few ovens are alike, so checking for the toasty brown color on top is your surest method of knowing that to your shortbread is done. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.
Finally, turn your shortbread pan upside down over a cutting board, holding it about 2 inches above the surface. Then, let it drop! This will jar the cookies out of the mold. Lift up the pan and slice up the shortbread with a thin, sharp knife while the cookies are still warm Serve the cookies design-side-up!
Scotch Shortbread cookies can be enjoyed warm or cold. They will keep well well in a lidded tin for at least a week, but we'll be surprised if they last that long!