Shortbread is a Scottish biscuit that has a sandy, crumbly texture. There are many new variations now when it comes to shortbread cookies. Some even refer to the term shortbread for basic recipes like sugar cookies, sable cookies, pie crust, etc. The type of shortbread we’re making today is the traditional Scottish biscuit.

Traditional shortbread biscuits are made without any wet ingredients and no leavening agents either. Instead, the main ingredients are only butter, sugar and flour. The reason why it has such a crumbly texture is because of its high-fat content. The ratio of butter is higher than in most cookie recipes since it’s the only thing that holds the cookie together. As a result, the dough is relatively dry to work with but it still holds its shape together.

The basic flavour of shortbread biscuits is vanilla but I wanted to make a different variety. So, I decided to add instant coffee mix and dark chocolate chips in this recipe to make this recipe.

Baking time and temperature are also very different from other cookies. Instead of the regular high temperature, we would be baking this at a low temperature of 130 degrees celsius. This is because shortbreads don’t change in colour but still have a crumbly texture. So for this shortbread biscuits recipe, it needs to be baked at a very low temperature but for a long period.

The unique part about these shortbread biscuits is that it’s cut after baking. The reason is that the dough is very fragile and it will hold its shape more once you cut it after it’s baked. You also need to puncture the dough just like you would when making pie crust so that the heat distributes much more evenly throughout the baking process.

This shortbread biscuit recipe is great to whip-up as a snack for a get-together or a little party. These shortbread biscuits aren’t too sweet, light and crunchy, a perfect bite with a cup of coffee. So what’re you waiting for? Let’s get baking!

Additional Notes from Author:

• The dough might seem dry but it will eventually come together if you keep mixing and clump the dough together.
• Using rice flour helps to make a more crispy, crumbly texture than full all-purpose flour.

Some terms you might need to know:

• rounded bench scraper
• bench scraper
• metal bench scraper