Cakes & Bakes: Shortbread rounds, three ways

Home-made shortbread rounds with mug of tea | H is for Home

Whenever the biscuit stash in our store cupboard reaches critical levels there are normally two obvious options to remedy the situation. Firstly, I can whip out a pre-made refrigerator cookie dough roll from the freezer. Alternatively, if the frozen stock is depleted, I can whip up a quick batch of shortbread.

Vintage wooden shortbread round mould | H is for Home

Justin bought me this vintage wooden biscuit mould a few weeks ago, so it was a great opportunity to use it for the first time to make some shortbread rounds.

Home-made shortbread round with vintage biscuit mould sprinkled with semolina | H is for Home

We think the mould might be Indian so we’ve added a few spices in homage – cardamom, ginger and vanilla.

Three home-made shortbread rounds on a tray lined with parchment paper | H is for Home

The swirl pattern it makes is just beautiful – I needed to sprinkle some polenta into the mould so the dough didn’t stick and it also helped with the definition.

Three home-made shortbread rounds cooling on a wire rack | H is for Home

We liked all three flavours. And it has to be said that, if we hadn’t been trying to think of suitable Indian spices for biscuits, we probably would never have tried cardamom shortbread – yet we both thought that it was very successful. I’ll definitely be making these again soon!

Click here to save the recipe for later!

Shortbread rounds, three ways
Ingredients
  1. 175g/6oz/¾ cup plain flour
  2. 50g/2oz/½ cup cornflour
  3. 50g/2oz/¼ caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
  4. 115g/4oz/½ cup butter, chopped
  5. 1 cardamom seed, removed from the pod and ground
  6. ¼ tsp vanilla essence
  7. ¼ tsp ground gingerHome-made shortbread ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas mark 3. Lightly flour the mould with semolina (or plain flour if you don't have it) and line a baking sheet with non-stick parchment paper
  2. 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
  3. Divide the dough into thirds (130g/4½oz each) and gently knead the ground cardamom into one, vanilla into the next and ground ginger into the last
  4. One by one, place each ⅓ of dough into the mould and press to fit neatly and evenly. Invert the mould on to the baking sheet using your fingers if necessary to gently to release the dough shape
  5. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until pale golden in colour
  6. Sprinkle the top of the shortbread with a little caster sugar and cool on a baking sheet
  7. Cut the rounds into 'petticoat tails' whilst still warm
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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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