Scottish Lemon Sugar Shortbread

This unusual Scottish Lemon Sugar Shortbread is made with a fabulous sugar infused with lemon rind — the lemon flavor really pops!  Make these classic lemon dessert bars for afternoon tea or everyday snacking.

I’m in love.  I’ve got a new shortbread recipe that’s sending me over the moon.  It’s a new technique for me, a new flavor, and a soft melting texture that is indescribable.  And that’s coming from someone who’s made about a gazillion shortbread cookies and crusts on this blog…but this one brings me back to why I fell in love with shortbread in the first place.

Shortbread is a very old Scottish recipe renowned for its simplicity.  The original formula is one part sugar, two parts butter, three parts flour, by weight.

If you’ve ever bought packaged shortbread, including the classic Girl Scout ‘Trefoils’, you might associate it with a rather bland, crisp biscuit-y cookie.  It can be that, but it can also have a softer, more tender texture, which is the way I like it best. This dough is patted into a baking pan, pricked all over with a fork, and baked just until it sets, but is still pale.  It’s cut into ‘fingers’ while still warm, and it melts on the tongue.  If you like it more on the crisp side, you only have to bake it longer.

As I was setting out my ingredients to make this, I remembered the wonderful lemon sugar I used in my Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins.  I figured why use regular sugar when I can get such lovely hit of lemon along with it?  It gives this shortbread a surprisingly clear citrus flavor.   I use a serrated peeler  (the sharp ‘teeth’ make peeling a breeze, even soft fruit like ripe peaches) to peel the zest off of a large lemon.  Then I process it with a cup of sugar until the zest is completely incorporated,  It only takes a minute.  The result is a slightly damp, terrifically fragrant sugar, ready for baking.  This recipe calls for 1/2 cup of sugar, so you will have extra.

This recipe also uses oat flour, which, if you’ve never tried it, is super easy to make at home in a food processor or a high speed blender. Check out my post on how to make your own oat flour for all the details.

The inspiration for this shortbread came from a blog I discovered recently from the remote Shetland Islands, off the coast of Scotland.   I set out to make their Shetland Shortbread out of curiosity, knowing it would be completely authentic, and to see how it differed from my usual recipe.  Interestingly, their recipe uses melted butter, which is great because it’s so easy.  I made a couple of adjustments, and of course used the lemon sugar, and I’m thrilled with the result.

If you’ve fallen in love with this shortbread like I have, you might want to try some of my other shortbread recipes, like my Butter Pecan Shortbread, or my Bittersweet Chocolate Chip Shortbread, for starters.

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3.35 from 97 votes

Scottish Lemon Sugar Shortbread

Ingredients

• 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup lemon sugar recipe below
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup oat flour
• 5 Tbsp cornstarch

lemon sugar

• 1 cup sugar
• zest of 1 lemon peeled with a vegetable peeler (just the yellow part, not the bitter white)

Instructions

• Set the oven to 350F
• First make the lemon sugar. Put the sugar into the bowl of a small food processor, along with the zest. Process, scraping down the sides if necessary, for about a minute or so, until the zest is completely incorporated into the sugar. Measure out 1/2 cup for this recipe, and pack it down, like you do with brown sugar, when you measure it.
• Put the sugar into a mixing bowl and add the flour, oat flour, and cornstarch. Whisk to combine well.
• Pour the melted butter into the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
• Pat the dough into an 8 inch square baking pan, smoothing it flat with your fingers. I line the pan with parchment paper and leave the ends long so I can pull it out for cleaner cutting later. Press the dough gently, but flatten it as best you can.
• Prick all over with the tines of a fork. Some people like to sprinkle the top with a little sugar, I didn't.
• Bake for about 22 minutes, or until it is just beginning to turn pale golden around the edges. It will still be quite pale overall. If you bake it longer, it will be crisper, but I like the soft melting texture I get after about 22 minutes.
• Let the shortbread cool for a few minutes, and then use a sharp knife to cut it into squares, or 'fingers'. Cutting the shortbread while still warm makes a cleaner cut.

Notes

recipe adapted from A Taste of Shetland

       

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