Scottish shortbread has to be, without doubt, one of the world’s gourmet patisseries. The melt-in-the-mouth morsels, with their buttery taste and sweet richness cannot, in my most humble opinion, be beaten! Except perhaps shortbread topped with slightly sweetened whipped cream and the tiniest of wild strawberries... pure heaven.

Shortbread, baked by the bride’s mother, was broken over the head of the newlywed as she crossed the threshold of her new home

I am writing this in Scotland, deep in the heart of the North East, in a tiny village called Rothiemay, staying with our family. We went to the nearest town – Huntly – and stopped by the local shortbread makers ‘Deans’. Once a small family enterprise it’s now a leading Scottish shortbread-maker, with a delightful cafe, shop and modern ‘open’ factory so you can watch the process of shortbread making.

Having bought their products for over 25 years, I was delighted to visit the new premises for the first time. Tongue in cheek I asked if I could have their secret recipe for shortbread… a smile and polite rebuff ensued… instead, I was kindly given permission to use some of their scrummy recipes. So, thanks to Deans for the Streusel Topped Mincemeat Pies and information on the story of shortbread. The recipe is mine and follows a traditional theme.

So, what actually is shortbread? Shortbread is a traditional Scottish-baked good usually made with three basic ingredients – flour, butter and sugar. Some schools of thought suggest it was originally a rich, hardened bread type roll, which over the years metamorphosised into our ‘modern’ shortbread. Now confusion springs to mind... why is it called ‘shortbread’? This is because of the large percentage of shortening used… in this case butter... to make the item light or flaky... or, it could come from the old world short meaning crumbly.

But why ‘bread’? Well, once there was a law taxing biscuits – so it was a brilliant idea to call it ‘shortbread crumbly bread – not a crumbly biscuit. Merely a playing around with words, but very clever. The version we eat today probably arrived on the culinary scene, in a recognisable form, around the 12th century.

Though some recipes still used yeast as late as the 1700s, at that time sugar became more available, so I expect it was only eaten by the rich as sugar and butter would have been prohibitively expensive for the peasants and serfs.

Mary, Queen of Scots, was said to have invented or named the ‘petticoat tails’ – a variation on the round or rectangular biscuits.

Caraway seeds, lemon peel and nuts were also popular additions in early shortbread, which were eaten mainly during festive occasions.

Finally, I love the idea that shortbread, baked by the bride’s mother, was broken over the head of the newlywed wife as she crossed the threshold of her new home... if it broke into small pieces it foretold a fruitful marriage.

I wonder if it crumbled if Mum didn’t like the new son-in-law?

Deans Streusel Topped Mince Pies

Makes approximately 12
1x12 holed patty pan tin

Ingredients
Pastry:
230g plain flour
140 g margarine/butter
1 tbs caster sugar
1 tbs hot water

Topping
50g butter
1 tps ground cinnamon
200g Deans shortbread – crumbled
75 g ground almonds
1 jar good quality mincemeat

Method
Blend butter and flour together in a food processor
Dissolve the sugar in the hot water
Add to the processor
Blend again and combine well
Remove from the processor, wrap and chill for one hour

Topping
Melt the butter in a saucepan
Add the other ingredients and stir until well combined

Leave and set aside

Heat oven to 180˚C. Roll out the pastry thinly on a floured surface. Cut out fluted rounds and line the patty pan tin. Add tps mincemeat to each. Then top with the streusel mixture to cover the mincemeat. Place in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until the topping is golden and mincemeat starts to bubble at the edges. Remove from the oven and place the pieces on a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.

Debs’ Shortbread

Ingredients
125g butter
55g caster sugar
180g plain flour
Icing sugar

Method
Beat the butter and sugar together until smooth. Gradually add the flour and mix in until it resembles a smooth paste. Turn on to a clean work surface and gently roll out until the mixture is one centimetre thick. Cut into rounds or fingers and place onto a baking tray. Sprinkle with sieved icing sugar and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes. During this time bring the oven temperature up to 190˚C/375˚F/Gas mark 5. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until pale golden-brown. Allow to cool a little and then place on a wire rack until cold.