This article was originally written last year to submit to a
magazine for a section on recipes they requested from their readership. It was
selected on an initial round and then about a month later, the magazine folded.
$400 just trickled down the drain! So, I
might as well make use of it. I have added a few full names and dates that were
not in the original.
Scottish Shortbread
This recipe arrived
in the United States when my husband's paternal grandparents, Annie Mackie
McAlister and David Buchanan immigrated. Davy arrived just before WWI and
served for a short time in the service. Because of the war, his fiancee, Annie,
didn't come to the United States until 1919, they married almost immediately and spent most of their lives in Boston. They had both been born in Glasgow, Scotland.
Scotland is not known
for its cuisine, but one of the recipes Annie brought with her is still made in
the family, four generations later - Scottish shortbread. It was, and still is,
traditionally made for the holidays and other special occasions.
After Davy passed
away in 1953, Annie spent more and more time with her only child, Stanley Mackie
Buchanan and his wife Barbara Lindberg, and their family. At 82, after being
mugged near her home in Boston, Annie finally agreed to live with them and
moved to Houston, where they were living at the time. As Annie aged, Barbara took
over the shortbread duties. Annie lived to age 97, died in 1986, and never lost
her brogue, sense of humor, excitement for living, or enjoyment of her family.
I joined the
family when I married the oldest son, Bruce, in 1976. I had always loved
baking, so naturally, as my mother-in-law got older, I began to take over the shortbread
duties for family occasions. It was not easy to master the finer points. Annie
never followed a recipe and couldn't tell you the measurements of the
ingredients. One day, my husband's sister, Leslie, stood next to Annie as she "measured"
out the flour, sugar and butter. Leslie put them in a measuring cup and wrote
down the results. It worked! We had a
recipe. But something we couldn't write down was how to determine the right
consistency after mixing on the counter with our hands. It takes practice. It is
always baked in old metal layer cake pans, cut in pie wedges and cooled on a
rack.
RECIPE FOR SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD
2 1/4-2 1/2 cups
flour
1/2 cup refined
sugar
1/2 lb butter -
not quite room temperature, cut into pieces
Blend the
flour and sugar by hand, on the counter. Next, blend in the butter pieces. The consistency needs to be moist, but
not sticky.
Pat the dough
into two round 9-in. layer cake pans. Press the fork around the edges of the
shortbread to make a nice pattern. Prick around the top of the dough with the
fork, all the way to the bottom. Bake at
325 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. It should be a nice golden brown color
when done. Cool slightly before cutting
into small pie wedges and cool further before removing from the pans. Gentleness is needed at this stage. We put a
towel on top of the pan, and turn the pan over gently until the shortbread is
on the towel. Transfer it to the cooling rack. Store in a covered metal
container.
Requests for
shortbread are still lovingly granted by me for now, but our son is learning to
conquer the recipe. He has made it for his friends and is the fourth generation in this country - one
hundred years later, to make Scottish shortbread - brought here by Annie.
