Instructions: Scottish Shortbread: As far as shortbread is concerned, Im a great believer in simplicity. The recipe for Balmoral Shortbread below is typical of this style.

However, with Scots cookery, one should never ignore Mistress Margaret

(Meg) Dods. Her "Cooks and Housewifes Manual" was promoted (ghosted?) by Sir Walter Scott, who coined her pseudonym. The recipe for Petticoat Tails is described by Catherine Brown (Scottish Regional Recipes) as "a ladies shortbread - men generally prefer thick fingers".

Other recipes call for additions such as rice flour, cornflour

(cornstarch), lemon peel, ground or slivered almonds (or almond essence)

but these are all just curlicues. As for the commercially produced Choc Chip Shortbread and Cherry Shortbread ... they are about as Scots as the Taj Mahal.

Note the 3:2:1 ratio - what could be simpler.

Preheat oven to 350F / 180C / Gas 4

Sift flour onto a board. Put sugar in a separate pile on the board, and work in butter. Gradually knead in flour: you should end up with a firm dough. Flour the board and roll to a thickness of 3mm to 5mm. Cut into circles and prick with a fork. Bake on a greased tray for 30 minutes.

/COOKIES

If you would like to email yourself the recipe for later use, or share the recipe with your friends or family, enter the email addresses below and this recipe will be emailed to you and others as well.