Brown Sugar Scottish Shortbread

These Brown Sugar Scottish Shortbread are buttery, deliciously chewy, sweet and incredibly easy to make! These cookies are so delicious, they’re begging to become a new holiday tradition!

We’re all the familiar withe the sweet, buttery, velvety morsel that is short bread. Some of my favorite holiday memories growing up always seemed to accompany a big old plate of the stuff.

We’re talking butter, sugar, flour, and salt – and that’s it! We’ve got that perfect balance of simple ingredients that we know and love in shortbread. Anyone else drooling yet?

What Is Brown Sugar Scottish Shortbread?

In the time that this delicacy was invented, shortbread was considered a special, luxurious treat usually only served for weddings or important birthdays. We’re fortunate enough to live in a time where this delicious biscuit is more readily available! As are the simple ingredients require to make it.

Scottish shortbread is just a super simplified shortbread recipe, one that is made to be nice and crisp. So good luck eating just one.

Ingredients in Scottish shortbread

Detailed measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.

• Butter – Unsalted as we are adding the salt ourselves into this recipe. If using salted butter, you can omit adding any additional salt to the recipe.
• Flour – Just all purpose flour is all we need, nothing fancy required here!
• Sugar – I used packed brown sugar to create depth of sweetness, rounded out some notes of molasses.
• Salt – Every baked good needs a bit of seasoning to balance out all that sugar, it’s a science in baking so be sure to be precise.

No Unsalted Butter?

Because I’m using unsalted butter I’ve added some salt to the recipe to help season our cookies, it’s essential in baking and cooking. If you only have salted butter then omit the additional salt entirely.

How To Make Brown Sugar Scottish Shortbread

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Create the batter:Cream the butter and brown sugar together in a large bowl with a mixer. Add 3 to 3 3/4 cups flour, one cup at a time, mixing well after each cup. Sprinkle your work surface with the remaining flour. Knead the dough a few times until it comes together, then roll it out with a rolling pin so that it’s about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch in thickness.
3. Assemble:Use either a 2-inch cookie cutter or a shortbread cooking cutter to cut your cookies into desired shape. Prick with fork or a toothpick so make little holes in the cookies and place on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes. Do not let them get brown. Remove from the oven. Do not let them get brown. Remove from the oven. Let the cookies cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to finish cooling.

Some Tips

• Handle your dough carefully! Don’t beat it too much or handle it too roughly.
• Make sure the dishes you use and your hands are cold when handling your dough, this will ensure your butter doesn’t melt before you pop it in the oven.
• Pick up a shortbread mold to make the cutest shaped shortbread cookies! Especially festive around the holiday season regardless of the holiday!

Freezing

These cookies freeze incredibly well. To freeze, place shortbread cookies in an airtight container and place in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Craving More Delicious Cookies?

• Classic Shortbread Cookies
• Lemon Shortbread Cookies
• Chocolate Sugar Cookies
• Thumbprint Cookies
• Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
• Chocolate Pecan Pie Cookies
• Soft Oatmeal Cookies
• Peanut Butter Cookies

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Brown Sugar Scottish Shortbread

4.6 from 22 votes

Prep: 30 mins

Cook: 20 mins

Total: 50 mins

Author: Joanna Cismaru

Serves: 48

Print Pin Rate

These Brown Sugar Scottish Shortbread are buttery, deliciously chewy, sweet and incredibly easy to make! These cookies are so delicious, they're begging to become a new holiday tradition!

Equipment

• KitchenAid Hand Mixer
• Keep Calm And Bake On Spatula
• Classic Wooden Rolling Pin
• Aluminum Baking Sheet (2 pack)
• 2-inch Cookie Cutter
• 3-inch Shortbread Cookie Cutter
• Black Cooling Rack

Ingredients

• 2 cups butter unsalted, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar packed
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Cream the butter and brown sugar together in a large bowl with a mixer. Add 3 to 3 3/4 cups flour, one cup at a time, mixing well after each cup. Sprinkle your work surface with the remaining flour. Knead the dough a few times until it comes together, then roll it out with a rolling pin so that it's about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch in thickness.
• Use either a 2-inch cookie cutter or a shortbread cooking cutter to cut your cookies into desired shape. Prick with fork or a toothpick so make little holes in the cookies and place on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes. Do not let them get brown. Remove from the oven. Do not let them get brown. Remove from the oven. Let the cookies cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to finish cooling.

Video

Recipe Notes

1. Instead of cutting the cookies into desired shapes you can pat the dough into an ungreased 17.88 x 12.88 x 1.06 inches baking sheet lined with parchment paper hanging off the sides to make it easy to lift out the cookies. After you bake them, remove them from the oven and lift out the cookies from the sheet using the parchment paper, then cut into desired shapes.
2. If using salted butter, there’s no need to add additional salt to your cookies.
3. These cookies freeze incredibly well. To freeze, place shortbread cookies in an airtight container and place in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 1cookieCalories: 127.89kcal (6%)Carbohydrates: 13.44g (4%)Protein: 1.3g (3%)Fat: 7.79g (12%)Saturated Fat: 4.88g (31%)Cholesterol: 20.34mg (7%)Sodium: 26.78mg (1%)Potassium: 20.91mg (1%)Fiber: 0.32g (1%)Sugar: 4.48g (5%)Vitamin A: 236.36IU (5%)Calcium: 7.83mg (1%)Iron: 0.58mg (3%)

Course:Cookies

Cuisine:European, Scottish

Keyword:brown sugar shortbread, scottish shortbread, shortbread, shortbread cookies

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