Charity Vintage: Scottish shortbread moulds

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two vintage 1970s Scottish shortbread moulds for sale on eBay for Charity in support of the British Heart Foundation
(ends 8 Dec, 2013 22:09:08 GMT)

Ever since we posted the recipe, we’ve had people get in touch asking us to sell them our vintage Scottish shortbread mould – we’ve turned down all-comers!

This pair of vintage wooden Scottish shortbread moulds, originally from the 1970s, is currently for sale on eBay for Charity by & in support of the British Heart Foundation*. We’re considering bidding on them ourselves. Our mould is quite plain, it has a lovely scalloped edge but it doesn’t have the lovely thistle pattern like this one. And the listing includes a bonus – a single shortbread round mould which we don’t have.

*BHF is the nation’s heart charity. They help save lives with information, patient care and pioneering research. With our support, they’re beating heart disease for good.

A short break for shortbread!

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plate of shortbread tails with mug of tea and vintage shortbread tin

You only need a short break to make this traditional Scottish shortbread as it takes about 15 minutes preparation and a mere twenty minutes or so in the oven. Delicious, home-made buttery biscuits in less than an hour. It also gives us the opportunity to use some of our favourite household objects.

vintage wooden shortbread mould

The first is this lovely vintage wooden shortbread mould. It makes the perfect-sized round to last a couple of days with just a nice, simple touch of decoration around the edge.

home-made shortbread round

The second object is this gorgeous vintage 1960s Jacob’s biscuit tin. We really love the stylised thistle decoration made up of various Scottish tartans – and the biscuit round fits perfectly inside.

vintage shortbread tin

And last but not least, a favourite spotty mug – filled with strong afternoon tea of course – the perfect accompaniment!

plate of tails with mug of tea and vintage shortbread tin

Here’s the Scottish shortbread recipe we published last year if you fancy giving it a try.

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Cakes & Bakes: Millionaire’s shortbread

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slice of millionaire's shortbread with small cup of coffee | H is for Home

The title of this post is a bit of a misnomer. Millionaire’s shortbread is, according to Wikipedia, “a biscuit confectionery item consisting of a rectangular shortbread biscuit base topped with a very soft caramel filling and a milk chocolate topping.” This recipe is a deluxe version incorporating peanuts and sea salt – more of a billionaire’s shortbread! It’s rich, rich, rich… and delicious, delicious, delicious!

Cakes & Bakes: Millionaire’s shortbread

Ingredients
  

  • for the base
  • 250 g/9oz plain flour
  • 75 g/3oz light brown soft sugar
  • 175 g/6oz butter melted
  • for the caramel
  • 100 g/4oz golden syrup
  • 125 g/4½oz butter cubed
  • 2 x 397g cans condensed milk
  • 200 g/8oz) salted roasted peanuts
  • for the chocolate topping
  • 200 g/8oz dark chocolate broken up into small pieces
  • 50 g/2oz butter cubed
  • 1 tsp sea salt flakes

Instructions
 

  • Heat the oven to 170ºC/150ºC fan/325 F/gas mark 3
  • Line a 22cm/8inch square cake tin with aluminium foil
  • Mix the flour & sugar together, make a well in the centre and pour over the butter. Stir to combine
  • Press evenly into the cake tin using the back of a dessert spoon
  • Bake for 20-30 minutes until a light golden brown
  • Allow to cool completely while you make the caramel
  • Put all the caramel ingredients except for the peanuts in a heavy-based saucepan
  • Heat gently, stirring constantly, until the butter has melted. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring all the time until the caramel is pale & golden
  • Stir in the peanuts and spread evenly over the shortbread base using a palette knife
  • Refrigerate for about half an hour until just set
  • Put the chocolate pieces and butter cubes into a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t come into direct contact with the water). Mix together until melted
  • Pour onto & spread evenly over the caramel layer using a palette knife
  • Sprinkle the sea salt flakes evenly over the top
  • Refrigerate for about half an hour until just set
  • Slice into portions with a sharp knife and serve
I always have a few cans of condensed milk stored in our larder.
To make caramel, put the unopened tins in a heavy-based saucepan and completely cover with water. Cover the saucepan with its lid and boil for about 1½ hours, topping up the water level if needed. The tins can be stored for months & months before use.
When you’re ready to make your caramel layer just follow the same instructions except that there’s no need to simmer the mixture. Mix the ingredients together using a metal whisk to ensure there are no lumps.
This tinned caramel sauce is great for making banofee pie too!

Scottish Shortbread

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ball of home-made Scottish shortbread dough with antique wooden shortbread mould, vintage pottery mixing bowl and cookery book open on the page with Scottish shortbread recipe | H is for Home

Justin brought home this antique wooden shortbread mould this week. It was only fair that it got tested out for quality control purposes before going on sale in our shop!

uncooked home-made Scottish shortbread dough moulded into a round

I’d made Scottish shortbread biscuits a couple of times recently and they don’t last very long chez H is for Home!

Freshly cooked home-made Scottish shortbread round with vintage Lord Nelson Pottery caster sugar storage jar

I normally use Delia Smith’s recipe where she uses semolina for a bit of a crunch, but I thought I’d try the one in the Great Big Cookie Book which uses cornflour, not semolina, and very pretty moulds that make rounds imprinted with a thistle.

There are lots of different variations – wholemeal flour, rice flour, oatmeal flour… you won’t go far wrong so long as you stick to the ratio of one part sugar, two parts butter and three parts flour. If you’d like to try the recipe I used, the instructions are below:

freshly cooked home-made Scottish shortbread cut into petticoat tails with a mug of tea

Mmmmmm… shortbread petticoat tails with a mug of tea. I think we may just have to keep the mould!

Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest

Delia Smith's Scottish shortbread recipe | H is for Home

Scottish Shortbread

Ingredients
  

  • 175 g/6oz/¾ cup plain flour
  • 50 g/2oz/½ cup cornflour
  • 50 g/2oz/¼ caster sugar plus extra for sprinkling
  • 115 g/4oz/½ cup unsalted butter chopped

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas mark 3. Lightly flour the mould and line a baking sheet with non-stick baking paper
  • Sift the flour, cornflour and sugar into a mixing bowl. Rub the butter into the flour & sugar mixture until it binds together and you can knead it into a soft dough
  • Place the dough into the mould and press to fit neatly (I went over it a couple of times with a rolling pin). Invert the mould on to the baking sheet and tap firmly to release the dough shape (I had to give mine a big old bang on our kitchen table!)
  • Bake for 35-40 minutes, until pale golden in colour
  • Sprinkle the top of the shortbread with a little caster sugar and cool on a baking sheet
  • Cut the larger rounds into ‘petticoat tails’ while still warm