Pack of 5 Shortbreads

Description

Traditional shortbread cookies prepared only on the basis of butter, flour and sugar.

Shortbread or shortie is a traditional Scottish biscuit usually made from white sugar, butter, and plain wheat flour. Unlike many other biscuits and baked goods, shortbread does not contain any leaving, such as baking powder or baking soda. Shortbread is widely associated with Christmas and Hogmanay festivities in Scotland.

Shortbread originated in Scotland. Although it was prepared during much of the 12th century, and probably benefited from cultural exchange with French pastry chefs during the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland, the refinement of shortbread is popularly credited to Mary, Queen of Scots in the 16th century. This type of shortbread was baked, cut into triangular wedges, and flavoured with caraway seeds.

The first printed recipe, in 1736, was from a Scotswoman named Mrs McLintock.

Shortbread was expensive and reserved as a luxury for special occasions such as Christmas, Hogmanay (Scottish New Year’s Eve), and weddings. In Scotland, it was traditional to break a decorated shortbread cake (infar-cake or dreaming bread) over the head of a new bride on the entrance of her new house. Shortbread was also given as a gift.

In British English, shortbread and shortcake were synonyms for several centuries, starting in the 1400s; both referred to the crisp, crumbly cookie-type baked good, rather than a softer cake. The “short-cake” mentioned in Shakespeare’s play The Mary Wives of Windsor, first published in 1602, was a reference to the cookie-style of shortbread.