How many times have you been asked to provide a contribution to a church fete or fundraising event – and then filed this request somewhere “Safe”! I guess it’s happened to most of us from time to time. It’s always good to have a reliable “Get out of Jail” recipe which you can turn to; one which gives consistent results and which tastes great too. This is one of my favorites, is traditionally Scottish, and it always goes down a treat. But best of all, it takes less than an hour to make, a further hour or so to cool down and stack in a tin, ready to take to your event!

The Ingredients

9 oz plain flour,
9 oz self-raising flour,
9 oz cornflour (cornstarch),
9 oz castor sugar,
2 250gm packs butter

The Method

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl.

Melt butter gently in a saucepan. It is best if it’s fairly hot as the butter cools down quickly when you put it into the dry ingredients.
(Be careful at this stage; “chip pan fires” can happen with hot butter!)

Pour melted butter into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. I use a big serving spoon at first to incorporate the melted butter, but in a short time the mixture is cool enough to handle and the dough is better if you knead it for a couple of minutes to give an even consistency.

Lightly oil two baking trays (approximately 16″ x 10″) Divide the mixture into two and spread evenly. I use a spatula to give a nice flat surface to the shortbread and to make sure it goes right into the corners of the trays. Prick the shortbread with a fork at intervals – create a pattern, if you like. Place the baking trays into a moderate oven (I use a fan oven which I heat to 150C) and bake until golden brown.

Take out of the oven and cut into portions while still hot, dust with castor sugar and allow to cool completely on a wire rack before storing the pieces of shortbread in an airtight container.

Margaret MacGillivray lives and works in Scotland. She and her husband run a Gift and Coffee Shop in Helensburgh, Argyll.