Recipe: Scottish shortbread

Who can resist a crisp slice of Scottish shortbread? Well, if you're on a calorie-controlled diet, I suppose you might. But, putting that to one side, you must agree that a nice piece of shortbread is always a delicious treat.

So what exactly is shortbread? Despite the name, it has nothing to do with bread. Rather, it's a biscuit - a cookie, for Americans - made entirely with butter, flour and sugar. Unlike the similarly named shortcake, it contains no baking powder or other raising agent.

It's also very easy to make at home. I have several recipes, but the one I'm offering here is the simplest and most reliable.

5 August 2011: I have now moved this recipe to my main website, Veg World. My apologies for any inconvenience. You can see the recipe by following this link:

Scottish Shortbread

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Full list of vegetarian and vegan recipes.