Traditional Scottish Shortbread Rounds Recipe

How to make it

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• Set oven at 140c/gas mark 2
• Cream together all the margarine, sugar and corn or rice flour.
• Slowly add flour, mixing well until the mixture forms a soft dough.
• Remove from bowl and knead well until dough is smooth.
• Roll out till 1/2inch thick (appx) and cut out using round cutters or fluted edge cutters
• Place on lightly greased baking tray and bake until golden brown, appx 10-15 minutes.
• These cookies will keep and store well in a tin or bow for several weeks.
• ----------History---------courtesy of Historic UK-----------
• The story of shortbread begins with the medieval "biscuit bread". Any leftover dough from bread making was dried out in a low oven until it hardened into a type of rusk: the word "biscuit" means "twice cooked". Gradually the yeast in the bread was replaced by butter, and biscuit bread developed into shortbread.
• Shortbread was an expensive luxury and for ordinary people, shortbread was a special treat reserved just for special occasions such as weddings, Christmas and New Year. In Shetland it still is traditional to break a decorated shortbread cake over the head of a new bride on the threshold of her new home.
• Shortbread has been attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots, who in the mid 16th century was said to be very fond of Petticoat Tails, a thin, crisp, buttery shortbread originally flavoured with caraway seeds.
• There are two theories regarding the name of these biscuits. It has been suggested that the name "petticoat tail" may be a corruption of the French petites gatelles ("little cakes").
• However these traditional Scottish shortbread biscuits may in fact date back beyond the 12th century. The triangles fit together into a circle and echo the shape of the pieces of fabric used to make a full-gored petticoat during the reign of Elizabeth I. The theory here is that the name may have come from the word for the pattern which was 'tally', and so the biscuits became known as 'petticoat tallis'.
• Shortbread is traditionally formed into one of three shapes: one large circle divided into segments ("Petticoat Tails"); individual round biscuits ("Shortbread Rounds"); or a thick rectangular slab cut into "fingers."