the best shortbread you’ll ever make
My Nana was the best baker I’ve ever known.
Her shortbread is the best you’ll ever eat.
Thankfully my mum has a folder of her hand-written recipes that must be fifty years old – butter-stained but still legible – and we’ll treasure them forever.
My mum always has a tin of homemade shortbread in the pantry. And at Christmas time she uses star and tree cookie cutters to add a little festive touch.
This is melt-in-your-mouth and you-can’t-stop-at-one buttery biscuity goodness.
225g butter (salted, my mum swears by the Allowrie brand in white packaging)
1 cup icing sugar
2 cups plain flour
1 cup cornflour
Firstly, make sure the butter is taken straight from the fridge . Chop into cubes and place in blender along with icing sugar. Blend until mixed into a firm ball (but don’t over-blend).
Then, add the flour and cornflour until you have a firm mixture.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a 12-14mm thickness then cut into desired shapes.
Place shapes onto a paper lined cooking tray and bake for 30mins in a low-temp oven of 120degrees.
The secret to perfect shortbread is the low oven! But remember that you may need to rotate the tray as the biscuits at the back of the oven will cook quicker.
Leave to cool on a wire rack.
The recipe sounds great – thanks for sharing 🙂 I would like to ask about the temperature – is it 120 Celsius deegrees?
Yes, that’s right!
I’m British and we don’t use cups! Please can you give me an idea of what a cup is in terms of grams?
Just google it….very easy to find x
Yay thank you Jodi, i am going to try this !! Thanks so much for sharing
Hi Jodi
Is the amount of butter in recipe definitely right? I found I had to at least double the amount of butter to get a dough..??
I am SO sorry. Typo! It’s 225grams of butter.
Your beautiful photo inspired me to make your grandmother’s recipe rather than my grandmother’s this year. Plus I love old recipes being passed on to the next generation.
A question: are the flour ratios correct? I made it this morning but there was no way I could cut biscuits out of the mixture without them crumbling out as I lifted the cutter, even a circle cutter was no good. I doubled the butter and still they crumbled as I put them on the tray. I rang my mum who is the expert in her mum’s shortbread (written on a paper napkin!) and she thought perhaps there was too much flour. In the end I pressed 3/4 of the mixture into the tray and baked it that way.
It’s 225g of butter. Apologies! I’ll blame my pre-Christmas fried brain x
They taste wonderful! Even if a quarter of the mixture landed on the floor when I wasn’t closely watching what my twenty month old was doing! Thanks little boy 😏.
Have a wonderful Christmas with your family and enjoy the holidays
We tried these and sadly they were a powdery mess! 🙁 The amount of butter seems very low compared to the other ingredients – could it be 225 or 325g butter?
It’a 225g. Sorry!!! x
Thank you so much for the recipe Jodi, I especially love that it’s an old cherished recipe that’s been shared! Going to make some today with my boys. I’ll prepare myself beforehand for the huge mess that will no doubt come about from baking with four little men! I haven’t ever left a comment, but I wanted you to know how grateful I am for your writing. I really look forward to your posts and love to sit with a cuppa and read as a treat. Your writing has such a calming effect and I love how you gently remind me to be more grounded, to not sweat the small stuff, that not everything will be perfect all of the time, especially now that children are on the scene and there’s less order and control ha ha. Merry Christmas to you and your lovely family Jodi, I looking forward to your writing and pictures next year, such a treat to read with a cuppa in hand. With love, Kristy xo
You’ve made my day with your lovely comment. Thank you, Kristy. Merry Christmas! x
Thanks Jodi, I just kept adding butter til I felt the dough was about right and they turned out great!! I appreciate you putting the recipe up to share with us all so don’t worry about the mistake, we all have them!! Merry Xmas to you and yours xx
Dear Jodi,
I too have just made a batch of your amazing looking shortbread biscuits. They are in the oven as I type this to you. This Christmas is my first without my grandmother and so it feels warm and touching to fill my heart with memories of not just my own grandmother but grandmothers in general.
I haven’t been able to approach Christmas with my usual gusto – Christmas was something I shared with my grandmother, and my extended family but in the past two years my family has had so many deaths – we are reduced to only my parents and my son and my husband. I used to have a huge family. I was able to bring up the box of decorations but I wasn’t able to open it up…it lies dusty in the corner. But I came across your post and it was a starting point for me to come to peace with the idea that this year will be a quiet one. A quiet one in which I will be so thankful that I have my parents, and I have a healthy son, and a loving husband. Thank you so much for your lovely blog. I do not often comment, but I wanted to take this moment to thank you for all that you share through out the year and to wish you and your family a very merry Christmas, and a happy and healthy new year.
Merry Christmas Kirstin…I’m so happy that this recipe brought you some happiness. May your NY be blessed and abundant x
I made these today to gift to family for Christmas and they turned out beautifully!
Thanks so much for sharing Jodi x
I am so looking forward to making these but I just want to clarify first, it definitely is cornflour , not cornstarch? I only ask because here we use corn starch, never cornflour in shortbread. Just want to get it right as they look amazing !
I also too have never commented before but look so forward to reading every post. Your pictures are so beautiful and your words so peaceful and inspiring. I wish you and your family a wonderful remainder of the season full of love and happiness and all the best for 2017.
Yes, definitely cornflour. Thank you so much for your kind words x
Just finished making these ! You are right- BEST shortbread EVER .
And cornflour was very easy to find. Thanks for your help.
Dear Jodi!
Your recipe made it around the world, Germany.
For years I have been searching for a really good recipe for shortbread. Yours is definitly THE ONE.
It was a bit difficult for me to convert cups into “Gramm”, but I finally did it: 1 cup = 120 gr.
I also tried raw cane suger instead of icing suger. The result was what I wanted, the best shortbread.
Thank you so much, or your nana, for this!
Greetings from Germany, Tine