I asked each of my family members and some close friends what was their favourite holiday treat was. Unsurprisingly, 4 of them came back with Scottish Shortbread. Scottish Shortbread has been included on every holiday treat tray that I can remember in my family and being part Scottish that only makes sense. You can imagine my relief (and surprise) when first dating my husband to find their favourite holiday treat was also Scottish Shortbread.
Two of my nearest and dearest also specified they didn’t want to have gluten-free shortbread. Gluten-free shortbread had gotten a bad rap from my mom who experimented and came up with one recipe – very crumbly and bland. Needless to say it didn’t become an instant family classic. Since she is visiting this week, we worked together to create a recipe that is more like the original. It will be interesting to see if anyone notices the differences between the gluten-free versison and regular. Both versions contain rice flour, a gluten-free staple.
I have included both recipes for you to try, whether you be a gluten-free fan or not. I hope you enjoy!
Old Fashioned Scottish Shortbread
A delicious old fashioned Scottish shortbread recipe from my husbands family. It also makes terrific cookies.
- 1 lb of butter
- 1.5 cup of icing sugar
- 1 cup of rice flour
- 3.5 cups of all-purpose flour
- Cream butter with wooden spoon (not too thin)
- Add rice flour & sugar, mix together
- Sift in the flour, 0.5 cup at a time
- Knead with hands and then add to greased baking pan (9×13″ works best)
- Bake at 300 degrees for 60 minutes (until edges are golden)
This also makes terrific cookies. If making cookies, reduce cook time by 15 minutes.
I love the pale white color of this shortbread — I make tons of shortbread in all kinds of variations, but I’ve never used rice flour. And I just happen to have a bag in the cupbard! Thanks for the inspiration!
Hope they turn out as great as the pan we just inhaled at my house 🙂
*cupboard* 🙂
These look great! Looking forward to trying the GF version!
Oooh, both of these recipes look so great! I’m always looking for new gluten free recipes, especially at Christmas time! Thanks for sharing!
Help! I can’t seem to see the gluten-free version! I’m on my mobile phone – is that the issue?
Hi,
I love you gf version but don’t see the recipe anymore. Can you please post again? I’d love to use it for thanksgiving! 🙂
Where is the gluten free version?