Petticoat Shortbread Recipe
A traditional shortbread recipe for your holiday enjoyment. Simple, whole foods ingredients with a special surprise spice that you're sure to love!
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 Cups Organic Flour
- 1/2 Cup Organic Powdered Sugar
- 8-10 Tbsp Butter
- 1 tsp Caraway Seeds, optional
- More Powdered Sugar for sprinkling, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F/177C.
- Mix flour (1 3/4 C), powdered sugar (1/2 C), and caraway seeds (1 tsp.) together.
- Cut in butter with a pastry cutter (or two knives) until the dough looks like pebbles.
- Mush together into a loose ball and place on a lightly floured board or silicone mat. Knead the dough until it firms up but is still workable.* Have faith - the dough will be dry at first but the warmth of your hands will melt the butter a bit and blend everything together. Pretend its playdough.
- Roll out the dough to about a 1/4" thick circle. Crimp the edges like you would a pie crust with your finger and thumb. Prick surface with a fork all over.
- At this point you can score it by cutting the circle into equal wedges with a pizza cutter; if you're using a silicone mat, be careful not to cut it.
- Cut out a small circle in the middle- details on why below.**
- Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden.
- Take out and sprinkle with powdered sugar while still hot. You can also cut and dredge each wedge entirely in the powdered sugar, but that makes it a bit sweet for my taste.
- Allow to rest for about ten minutes. Unless you just can't wait another second!
Notes
*If you've worked the dough and it's warm but if you still feel it's too dry, work in 1-2 Tbsp. more of very soft butter.
To learn to make your own powdered sugar, please visit the post How to Make Your Own Powdered Sugar here at Homestead Lady.
**Jane Pettigrew, the author of The Festive Table, explains that Petticoat Tails are the best known version of Scottish Shortbread. This shortbread was traditionally made every new year celebration (Hogmanay) with only the best ingredients.
A small circle was cut out of the center of the shortbread dough so that the points of each piece wouldn't crumble and be wasted when the segments were divided.
I consider this little cutout circle of shortbread to be my tax for making the cookies, so I bake it up and eat it before the kids even wake up!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!