Why are shortbread biscuits called shortbread biscuits?

Question

It occurred to me recently when i was asked, its not as if the biscuits were made because the people that originally made it didn't have enough ingredients for bread therefore they called it "short bread" ??? Also do they originate in scotland?

Answer 1

Here is some excellent info. Yes, they did come from Scotland. They made what was originally called biscuit bread. This is interesting reading on the link. Thanks for the question.

http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/Scotland-History/ScottishShortbread.htm

Answer 2

History Of Shortbread

Answer 3

1

Answer 4

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Just the opposite, Put them in a tight sealed tin, and they may soften. I am thinking cookies not biscuits, I I call them shortbread cookies,(same thing) you can put a teaspoon of raspberry jam on top of your cookie and then a second cookie to form a sandwich shortbread cookie. Caramel shortbread, also known as Caramel shortcake, Caramel squares, Caramel slice, Millionaires' shortbread[1], Millionaires slice, is a biscuit confectionery item believed to be of Scottish origin because of the use of shortbread. It traditionally consists of three layers; a shortbread biscuit base, a caramel filling and a milk chocolate topping. There are also variants including the use of peanut butter and raisins.See the links below, for ideas.

Answer 5

Origins of Shortbread: A Scottish Delicacy



This delicate biscuit or is it a bread? It has been for centuries what the Scots have treated as their own little luxury bakery product, which was used in the past on high days and holidays as something a little special.



The origins of shortbread can be traced back to about the 12th Century when butter or lard was added to bread dough, thus the name shortbread. It was not until the 17th Century when sugar was introduced to the UK that it became more of a sweet biscuit, as we know it today. It probably had the same derivations as the American ‘shortnin bread’ or shortcake, which uses fat or shortening in the recipe.



Earlier shortbread’s had decorations added to them such as caraway seeds, lemon peel and nuts. These decorations appear to have died out in today’s shortbreads and it is the flavour of the butter and its cooking methods that give the product its distinctive characteristics.



Shortbread in the past was used mainly for festive occasions such as weddings and at Hogmanay, where they were made into large round bannocks or rectangles, then broken into even chunks and served on an ashet. This was once a “brides cake” (a sort of shortbread) baked by the brides mother. A tradition with the shortbread was to break it over the head of the bride, as she crossed the threshold of her new home – if it broke into small pieces, the marriage would be fruitful. The custom of both bride and groom cutting the cake is recent - it used to be just the bride. Thankfully the high butter content makes the shortbread very fragile and would not hurt those on the receiving end.



Everyone got a piece of cake and also sending a piece of cake to all who had given a present became the norm.



It was from the shape of the frills of the Edinburgh ladies who were having shortbread for their court afternoon teas, whose dresses that the name petticoat tails was derived.



Shortbread today is as popular as ever, with the demand coming not only from its use as an everyday delight with a cup of tea or coffee, but as a gift from Scotland for the ever hungry tourists who buy the product each year by the thousands of tons.



There are a great many different recipes for shortbread, which have been developed over the years, as each baker in a different area had their own ideas of how a good shortbread should taste. Different ingredients may be included other than the basic flour, and sugar.



Browsing through recipe books you find combinations of butter, margarine, semolina, corn flour, rice flour, ginger, vanilla essence and other flavourings.



In recent years the manufacturing of shortbread has moved out from being part of the local bakers range of biscuits, to becoming a large manufactured product and many successful businesses have been developed in Scotland producing tons of this popular delicacy.



Amongst these successful companies are Dean’s of Huntly whom are now based in a modern production facility on the outskirts of the town of Huntly , producing a premium quality hand-baked shortbread from the ‘melt in the mouth’ recipe, which was developed by Mrs Helen Dean.



Helen Dean started making shortbread in her own kitchen to raise funds for the local pipe band in 1975.

Answer 6

The term Shortbread is a type of biscuit (cookie) which is traditionally made from one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three parts oatmeal (although plain white flour is common today, and other ingredients like ground rice or cornflour are sometimes added to alter the texture). Shortbread is so named because of its crumbly texture (from an old meaning of the word short). The cause of this texture is its high fat content, provided by the butter. The related word "shortening" refers to any fat that may be added to produce a short (crumbly) texture.

Yes, they did originate in Scotland.

Answer 7

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

Why are shortbread biscuits called shortbread biscuits?

It occurred to me recently when i was asked, its not as if the biscuits were made because the people that originally made it didn't have enough ingredients for bread therefore they called it "short bread" ??? Also do they originate in scotland?

Answer 8

What Is Shortbread

Answer 9

Shorter time to make than regular bread

Answer 10

Scottish shortbread



The history of Scottish shortbread is interconnected with the history of dairy farming and butter making in the British Isles during the Medieval Ages:



"As Jean-Louis Flandrin points out, butter consumption is a natural development in regions suitable for cattle-breeding. In such places, popular taste and the local economy had gone right over to butter as a cooking fat within 400 years....Flandrin is speaking about the butter-eating areas of Europe in the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries..."

---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat [Barnes & Noble Books:New York] 1992 (p. 121)

[pages 120-124 present the history of butter, including its symbolism]



"Butter was the other principal milk dish [cheese being the other]. The manner of making is had changed little since Pliny's day...In other branches of cookery butter was an enricher, the accompaniment of cheese in herbolaces or with macaroni; of eggs, milk and sugar in the filling for a flathon; of plain or fancy breads in pain perdu or rastons. For short pastry and cakes, it was at first an alternative to fresh cream, but eventually superseded it, for butter had a more highly concentrated fat content, and was more easily stored...Nevertheless butter appeared in a relatively small proportion of the dishes in medieval recipe books, which were written mainly for and by the cooks of the nobility. It was only in Tudor times that an emerging middle class, which did not despise butter as the food of the poor, began to use it liberally in every possible sphere of cookery, setting a trend that was to last for some two hundred years."

---Food and Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C. Anne Wilson [Academy Chicago:Chicago] 1991 (p. 161-164)[ask your librarian to help you find this book--it is chock full of interesting information.]



This explains why the first shortbread recipes date only back as far as Elizabethan times. This food historian confirms:



"Shortbread...a biscuit whose origin lies in the short cakes made in the 16th century...There are many variations. The thick Pitcaithly bannock has peel and almonds in the mixture..."

---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 721)



According to these sources, if you want to make Medieval/Elizabethan type shortbread you might want to add some finely ground oats to your recipe. This makes sense given the fact that oats and butter were staple foods of the poorer classes.



"Shortbread...A biscuit (cookie) rich in butter, which is served with tea and its traditionally eaten at Christmas and New Year. Originating from Scotland and traditionally made with oatmeal, it is now made with wheat flour...Shortbread is usually baked in a large round and served cut from the centre into triangles; it is a relic of the ancient New Year cakes that were symbols of the sun."

---Larousse Gastronomique, Jenifer Harvey Lang [Crown Publishers:New York] 1988 (p. 974-5)



"Eaten all the year round but especially at Christmas and the New Year, this delicious cake, which is quite unlike any other, is made from only the finest materials...Originally made with fine oatmeal, it is now made with sifted flour, sometimes with a small proportion of rice flour. On festive occasions it can be decorated with fine strips of orange or lemon peel and small sugared almonds. In the Shetland and Orkney Islands it is call the Bride's Bonn, and has a small proportion...of caraway seeds added. The edges are traditionally "notched" by pinching with the finger and thumb, and this is thought to symbolize the sun's rays, from the early days of sun-worship."

---A Taste of Scotland, Theodora FitzGibbon [Avenel Books:New York] 1979 (p. 117)



What about the origin of the name "shortbread?" According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "Short" (definition 20): Of edible substances: Friable, easily crumbled. This describes the process of making shortbread. This is also where the English term "shortening" comes from. According to John Ayto, the term "shortbread" dates back only as far as the early nineteenth century. [An A-Z of Food and Drink, Oxford University Press:Oxford 2002 (p. 310).] If you want more details, ask your librarian to help you find this article: "Folklore; The Short Story," The Los Angeles Times, October 14, 1998 (p, 2).



RECIPES

[19th century]





Short Bread, Scotch.

No. 1. Mix two pounds of flour with four ounces of moist sugar, two ounces of candied citron, chopped small, and two ounces of sweet almonds, blanched and sliced. Rub one pound of butter into the flour, melt another half pound of butter, and with this work up the four to a smooth paste. If a plainer cake is wanted, less butter may be used. Sometimes the whole of the butter is melted, and then the bread is more easily made. Roll out the pastry to the thickness of an inch, and in a large oval shape, pinch the edges evenly, prick the surface with a fork or skewer, and sprin