Instead of dark brown sugar (which is just white sugar with molasses mixed back in), I use Rapunzel brand rapadura (unrefined sugar). The taste is phenomenal. For the coffee lovers in my house, I also add about 1/8 cup good-quality ground coffee (or more depending on the amount of dough I'm making) for Espresso Shortbread. This is the easiest and best-tasting plain shortbread recipe there is. DO NOT DIP THEM IN CHOCOLATE. (What's next, music? Explosives?) I have made them both ways with different types of chocolate and I always get unanimous votes in favor of the naked original. The espresso version is a killer knock-out variation.

I'm Scottish and would just like to add that if you reduce the flour by half a cup and add half a cup of rice flour, it really improves the texture. It gives it a slight crispy crunchy texture that I like.

Burn's Night in Scotland is January 25th and celebrates the national poet, Robbert Burns. The Scots celebrate by drinking loads and eating haggis. I brought this shortbread to the last Burn's Night celebration and got rave reviews!

This recipe is VERY good. Lots of time and effort, but the results were worth it.

These cookies were very tasty. I am no good at rolling out dough so I wasn't sure this was going to work for me, but it did. I will be making these again come Christmastime.

I love this recipe so easy.. Thanks

Good recipe! Lovely, except, you do not dip scottish shortbread in chocolate!!!!!!!!! I would know, I'm from scottland, and good shortbread shouldn't need that. Trust me, just dust with sugar and stick to the recipe.

OMG...I CURSE THE DAY THAT I FOUND THIS RECIPE...BECAUSE IT'S THAAATTTT GOOD! :) I was skeptical to try it bc I am a shortbread junkie and I really don't want to gain the weight...but I can't help it. I ate the entire batch. It's delicious! It tastes just like the shortbread from the store. Next time, I will add a bit more flour though to make it harder.

I followed the recepe exactly, making half a batch. Nice crispness, but the cookies are slightly bland. My family still love it though. i roll the dough and press it flat before pressing a M&M candy in the middle of each cookie. Managed to make 34 small round cookies.

Super yummy cookies! I added a little vanilla and used spelt or oat flour or a combo of the two (I forgot which kind of flour I purchased)? Anyway, it worked well and the dough was very moist. It would have rolled very easily, but I just spooned it onto the cookie sheet. The cookies spread a tiny bit. In the future I may add a bit of cinnamon and may press the cookies into a pan, then cut for squares. They were a bit crumbly after cooking. I only cooked for 19 minutes at 325.

This is the perfect shortbread! Mine spread out a bit in the oven, so I recommend sticking the cookie sheet in the fridge for about 20 minutes before you bake them so that they don't lose their shape. These heavenly cookies don't last long in my house once they come out of the oven!

Absolutely perfect. I decided I wasn't going to roll out the cookies, and instead formed the cookie dough into a long rectangular shape, wrapped it in plastic wrap and chilled it. Then I sliced individual cookies off from this loaf, poked little depressions on the top, and baked them. Much easier. I shared some of these cookies with my mother who raved about the taste and asked for the recipe. She couldn't believe the recipe had only three ingredients. The dark brown sugar definitely made a difference in the taste. Next time, I will try about 1/4 white sugar, 3/4 brown sugar just to see the difference. These are the best I've ever had, though. Oh, and someone else's suggestion about dipping these in chocolate - yum! Or how about putting a square of chocolate on the cookies the last minute they're in the oven?

Excellent recipe! The dough was a bit crumbly, and was difficult to transfer after the cutouts, but the baked result was too good and totally worth the effort! I flavored the cutouts individually with granulated sugar, a few with whole almods and the rest with freshly ground cinnamon. Thank you very much for sharing this absolutely delicious recipe!

Awesome! Very easy and quick. You may not think you can do much with these basic ingredients but you'd be wrong! Use actual butter; the taste is pure and classic.

Fabulous taste, excellent consistancy, easy to make. All the things you could want from a cookie! I am guilty of reading a LOT of reviews, so I took advantage of some of their advice. I let my butter come to room temp, and used half salted, half unsalted. Then when it came time to roll out, I used powdered sugar instead of flour. The result was VERY tasty!

A perfect recipe! Simplicity itself, these do require tender care when rolling as over rolling will make the resulting shortbread tough. I shape it into a rectangle by hand to start with then a few passes of the rolling pin, I'm ready to cut them by hand and bake. Shortbread is not supposed to be overly sweet and these are perfect with tea or coffee. The brown sugar provides a depth of flavor that is divine! Try these, make some tea, relax and enjoy!