Or, what to make for afternoon tea with a Scotsman.
This is my mother-in-law’s recipe. She is Scottish and comes from a family of bakers, so this recipe was always going to be good.
I made these cookies on an afternoon when A and I were both working from home. It also happened to be Valentine’s Day, which is not a big holiday around our house. I have been trying to explain to A that Valentine’s Day, for many Americans, is more than just a romantic holiday. I have fond memories from grade school of making and decorating a mailbox to receive Valentines (and fun-sized candy) from my classmates. Under the heading of not just romance, see also: cards sometimes sent to my siblings and I from our mother. However, there can be an undeniable tinge of Hallmark and love-is-in-the-air about the holiday.
I didn’t want to force any pink-scented flutters down anyone’s throat, but I do like to celebrate stuff. I thought I might be able to send the right kind of signals with a plate of buttery-scented, ruffle-edged Scottish shortbread. And this way, the Valentine’s offering included love from family (by way of an excellent recipe) and from his lady. And in our house, nothing says I love you like a cup of tea served with something sweet.
Since I had no advance plans to make Valentine’s treats, I did not plan ahead and only had 4 tablespoons of butter in the house, which meant that I had to reduce the recipe accordingly. This doesn’t always work with baking, but this time luck was on my side. (And also: good recipe. Thank you, E!) I’ll post the reduced-size recipe here, because I know some of you might be interested in such a thing. Feel free to let me know if you want the original recipe as well – I’m happy to post it. Also, this recipe is in ounces, so those in the US will need a scale to measure ingredients. Next time, I’ll try to remember to measure out cups as well.
- 2 oz butter (or 4 tablespoons)
- 2 oz plain flour
- 1 oz corn starch (corn flour in the UK)
- 1 oz granulated or castor sugar
- Heat oven to 300 F.
- Place all ingredients into a food processor and pulse to combine. The mix will look like it won't form a dough, but stick with it and you'll get a result like the above photos.
- I imagine this will work with a stand mixer or an electric whisk too, but I haven't tried those methods. My mother-in-law says if you don't have a mixer, you can just cut the butter into small cubes, then rub the mixture together with your fingertips until the butter is incorporated and a dough forms.
- Press the dough into a rough 6 inch circle on a baking tray or cake pan (as pictured). You don't need to grease the pan. Score the dough into slices (don't cut all the way through, just mark the lines) and prick all over with a fork.
- If you like, you can crimp the edges as I did. (Petticoat shortbread is supposed to be baked in a fluted tart tin to achieve the ruffles. I made do.)
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the edges of the shortbread are only very lightly golden. You want the shortbread to remain as pale as possible. Check at 25 minutes to see where you are.
- Remove from the oven and re-score the dividing lines if necessary. Allow the shortbread to cool in the pan for 15 minutes or until it firms up a bit.
- Slice the petticoat pieces through the pre-scored lines and remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool. You can dust the cookies with a bit of sugar for sparkle if you want.
- Cookies will keep in a sealed container for about a week, but ours only lasted three days.