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Shortbread Day
Jan 6
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
"Shortbread is not bread
And shortbread is not short.
It is medium in length and a biscuit, of sorts.
And it commonly comes in a tartan type tin
That is just long enough to keep shortbread in."
~ Anonymous
Yum! Yum! Whether you prefer your shortbread in fingers, petticoat tails, rounds, decoratively molded or just rustically sliced, eat some (or for the calorie-conscious) and dance this shortbread dance today! This dance was devised by the lucky recipients of gifts shortbread by a generous baker, Helen! The devisor writes, "The Otto family has five members. For many years, Helen has honored us on each of our birthdays with a batch of her marvelous shortbread. In addition, at Christmas, Helen’s shortbread is prominent among the many other baked goodies she includes in our family gift package. Yum. Several year ago, we gave Helen a circular wooden shortbread mold, and ever since her shortbread gifts are circular.”
Regardless of shape, Scottish shortbread starts with just four ingredients: butter, salt, sugar, and flour. Intrepid bakers and top chefs have added modern touches such as browning the butter; toasting the sugar; adding cornstarch; and coating the baking pan with a generous layer of Demerara sugar to give the shortbread a nice granular topping. But for traditional and regional shortbread variations, check out the dance description and the included recipes for Pitcaithly Bannock (made with almonds, caraway seeds, and crystallized orange) or Yetholm Bannock (which includes chopped ginger)! Oh, and you might need to wipe those buttery hands before dancing this lively reel which has buttery hand claps for Helen's shortbread! Thank you, Helen! 🤪 ❤️ 👩🍳
Helen's Shortbread
Everyone's favourite biscuit or cookie, shortbread, is known for its buttery goodness and crispy texture. Recipes are passed down in families with secret ratios of the three basic ingredients: butter, flour, sugar (and maybe a pinch of salt). Their sugary cousin, the sugar cookie has a much different texture, flavour, and snap!
Interestingly, during the time when many of the first shortbread recipes were published in the 18th century, they were more elaborate. They were baked with candied citrus peels and garnished with caraway comfits.
In Shetland, it is traditional to break a decorated shortbread cake over the head of a new bride on the entrance of her new house. Brides following this tradition generally prefer a more traditional recipe over the candied sticky peel sort.
Some claim that “traditional” Scottish shortbread is made with farola: “Scottish Shortbread is traditionally made with farola, a free-flowing cream coloured and fine granular powder or flour milled from durum wheat” though research into recipes has not yet supported this claim.
Most shortbread recipes today call for using caster sugar rather than granulated sugar. Note: caster sugar is not powdered sugar (which has added corn starch) . Caster sugar is very fine granulated sugar and commonly used British baking as it dissolves more rapidly leaving a finer texture to the baked good.
Click the "Keep Calm and Eat Shortbread" poster for recipe variations for three different traditional shortbread textures, gritty, fine, and melting, as well as additions for classic shortbread variations for:
Pitcaithly Bannock (almonds, caraway seeds, crystallized orange)
Yetholm Bannock (chopped ginger)
All recipes are from Catherine Brown's "A Year in a Scots Kitchen."
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
