Scottish Butter Shortbread Fingers
4 ingredients
10 steps
What you need
- 200 g (14 tbsp) unsalted butter, soft but still cool
- 100 g (1/2 cup) caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp for sprinkling
- 300 g (2 1/3 cups) plain flour
- 1 pinch fine salt
Method
Restated from the original video
- 1
Line a 20 cm (8 in) square tin with baking paper, letting it hang over two sides.
- 2
Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl with a wooden spoon until pale and smooth, 2-3 min.
- 3
Sift in the flour and salt and work them in with the spoon, then with your fingertips, just until the mixture clumps into a soft dough. Do not knead.
- 4
Press the dough evenly into the tin with your knuckles and smooth the top with the back of a spoon.
- 5
Mark the slab into 16 fingers with a knife, cutting about halfway through, then prick each finger a few times with a fork.
- 6
Chill the tin for 20 min so the dough firms up and holds the marks.
- 7
Heat the oven to 160 °C (325 °F).
- 8
Bake on the middle shelf until pale golden at the edges and firm in the centre, 35-40 min. The top should stay light.
- 9
Sprinkle the hot shortbread with the extra sugar and cut through the marked lines while it is still warm.
- 10
Let it cool in the tin for 20 min, then lift it out by the paper and separate the fingers once fully cold.
About shortbread
A dense, crumbly cookie of just butter, sugar and flour, no eggs or leavener, baked until pale gold and cut into wedges or bars.
What cooks argue about
What usually goes in
all purpose flour
butter
granulated sugarImported from askchefdennis.com. Recipe Grab pulled out what you need to cook it; the video stays where its author put it.