12 Bakes of Christmas – Day 6, Shortbread

Does anything say Christmas more than a plate of shortbread?

In our house, Santa is quite partial to shortbread – and peated single malt whisky – so we tend to leave out some of each, just to make sure the big fella is looked after on Christmas Eve. It really is a treat best savoured over the festive season.

At its simplest, shortbread is a mix of just 3 ingredients: butter, flour and caster sugar. That’s it. In a way, it represents everything I love about the magic of baking. How can you take these 3 simple things (plus a couple of tablespoons of water) and get something so rich and special just by bringing them together into a dough? Truly miraculous.

Anyways, for today’s featured Christmas bake I bring you two shortbread recipes – one traditional one, and one slightly posher with clove sugar. You’ll find them here and here.