Nana’s Scotch Shortbread Recipe
I am excited to share not only some Christmas traditions but also an awesome giveaway from Gay Lea!
One of my favorite things about Christmas is the many traditions that I remember as a little girl, we are still doing to this very day.
Christmas for our family is more like a marathon actually.
We start with Christmas Eve brunch with family and friends hosted by Tim and I every year. Bacon, sausage, eggs, breakfast casseroles, Belgian waffles, fried potatoes, homemade muffins, and Mimosas.
After an afternoon snooze, we attend an evening Chruch service, followed by “biters” like cheese and crackers, stuffed puffed pastry bites, chips and dips and Christmas cookies.
By the end of the day I have officially gained 5 pounds!
Another tradition that dates back to my childhood is having my mom (and dad too before he past) & brother come to our house to watch the kids open their gifts on Christmas morning. Since there is both my sister’s family and my own, they alternate whose house they go to first every year. When I was little my Nana and Poppa (my mom’s parents) always came to our house and shared in the excitement of opening our gifts!
After both my family and my sister’s have done with presents at our own houses, we then gather at my mom’s house and exchange gifts.
Then it’s back home to tidy up and have a bit of a rest before Christmas dinner later in the day. We do take turns hosting, but it usually my sister who has the biggest dining room and kitchen!
Of course, when it comes to traditions there are a couple of treats that MUST be on the cookie tray every year. One of course is Grampie’s Favourite Squares and the other is my Nana’s classic scotch shortbread!
When it comes to her shortbread there is no skimping on the ingredient that is the star of the show. That would be the Butter!
Only Gay Lea butter goes into my shortbread recipe. Its flavour is pure and rich, it whips up light and fluffy and gives the shortbread that delicious buttery taste I look forward to every year. I love that it comes in both regular bricks or in sticks.
When I bake I always use unsalted butter as most recipes call for a bit of salt anyway.
I know that whatever Gay Lea products I buy, I will always receive fresh, natural products that I can trust. Made with ingredients from a co-operative of over 1,200 Ontario diary farmers I am supporting local farming in local communities.
The folks at Gay Lea Foods not only strive to produce quality dairy products, they care about people too. To date, they’ve raised $450,000 in support of co-operative development around the globe, including contributing to organizations in rural Ontario communities.
Now that is a company I want to do business with!
Nana’s scotch shortbread recipe is baked in a 9 x 13 pan that I cut into squares and then cut each square on the diagonal to create little triangles. I’m just fancy like that!
With a whole pound of butter, Gay Lea butter ensures that rich buttery taste shortbread is known for. I have tried to “skimp” on butter in a few cookie recipes before and they turned out flat and had a really odd after taste.
After a day of baking, everything is tucked away safely in the freezer to be enjoyed during all our gatherings with family and friends over the holidays. This is one tradition I am keeping alive!
Does your family have Christmas traditions that are non-negotiable? Or is there a special Christmas cookie that you remember from your childhood that must be made each and every year? Do share!
Until next time…
“Disclosure: I am part of the Gay Lea Ambassador Campaign and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.”
Nana’s Scotch Shortbread
- 2 cups Gay Lea butter
- 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
- 5 to 6 cups all purpose flour
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- In a large bowl (or bowl of electric mixer) cream the butter until fluffy. Gradually add confectioners sugar and mix well. Work in flour until dough comes together and can be easily handled. (It usually takes closer to 5 cups for me).
- Turn batter into a 9 x 13 pan and pat down firmly. Prick all over with a fork and bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until edges are golden. Start checking at about 50 minutes.
Great story! I love Christmas traditions! I have a favorite Christmas Cookie recipe that I got from my grandma that I still make for my kids!
The recipes passed down from my Nan are some of my favorites 🙂
Sounds Yummy
Melt in your mouth yummy!
The kids open their stockings when they get up, then we have breakfast and the rest of the family, grandparents, aunts, uncles etc come over
We always start with the stockings too!!
We have several diary farms around us as well! One of them even has an ice cream bar and the ice cream is delicious! As for cutting the shorbread, I always cut it after it is baked and cooled, using a sharp knife.
Shortbread! It is a longstanding tradition in our family to indulge in my Mum’s Scotch Shortbread, too. Since she passed away a year ago, it’s up to my sisters and I to continue carrying on that tradition. In fact, after her funeral, we had a catered reception for family and friends but one special thing had to be served in her memory- her Scottish Shortbread, prepared by my youngest sister Alana, because she had best mastered copying my Mum’s recipe! Yeah for butter and shortbread!
That is awesome that you are carrying on your Mom’s tradition. And that your sister has mastered her recipe is awesome. I am still working on it!!
Every Christmas the grandchildren, all in their twenties now, check out the baking I have done for the holidays and I had better make what the five of them like, shortbread, grampies favorite squares, cherry chews, iced sugar cookies and red and green cherry icebox cookies. Couldn’t make them so good without Gay Lea Butter!
You got that right 🙂
I can totally relate to this – my mom always made shortbread every Christmas too but they were whipped shortbread cookies with those candied red and green cherries on the top. Made with butter and are so light they are absolutely melt in your mouth cookies that you can eat a dozen without even thinking about it, get up in the middle of the night to just have a few cookies that turns into 6. There is a horrid true story carefully recorded in our family history so it is never ever repeated again … the year my mom thought she would substitute margarine for butter in her shortbread cookies – amazing how this makes such a huge difference! From that yr forward every Christmas all 5 of us kids were sure to say we want BUTTER in our shortbread cookies! Not a Christmas song but one that is 115 yrs old and one of my favorites! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buMpYLUjI9A
Oh my goodness, I remember that song! I remember my mom singing it when I was young 🙂 Oh, I can’t even imagine shortbread made with margarine!
I can’t believe in a post about Christmas and Butter I forgot to mention our other non-negotiable Christmas baking favorite – Butter Tarts and it’s a Canadian thing too so I had to come back to leave a 2nd comment and pay tribute to these delicacies! From Wiki ” History – Butter tarts were common in pioneer Canadian cooking, and they remain a characteristic pastry of Canada, considered one of only a few recipes of genuinely Canadian origin (for example, by the 6th edition of the Collins English Dictionary). It is primarily eaten and associated with the English-speaking provinces of Canada.” Yummmm 🙂
You are so right! I just made a big batch of butter tarts yesterday, some loaded with pecans 🙂 Yummm is right!!
I have two favourites. I love turkey dinner with my family, and opening gifts with my kids.
Love both those things 🙂 Even now that my kids are older, I get so excited to see their reaction to their gifts!
The kids and I bake cookies together, ginger bread and shortbread cookies. Our Scottish shortbread has ground oatmeal and brown sugar in it 😀 Traditional for us.
Oh, oatmeal and brown sugar! I bet that is delicious 🙂
My favorite holiday tradition is opening a one gift on Christmas eve and
eating cookies with milk and letting the kids leave some out for Santa.
Wanda, we have that tradition too. Even though we know it is going to PJ’s we still always look forward it!
I always love baking, decorating, and eating cookies with the kids!
I miss having little kids around to “help” with the baking!
My favourite tradition is going to the local Santa Claus parade and then we head home to put up the tree.
Love it! It has been a few years since I have gone to the Santa Claus parade as it has always been bitter cold. Must try and go next year!
Baking Christmas cookies is my favourite holiday tradition. I always make whipped shortbread for Christmas, but have always wanted a traditional recipe. Definitely will try this one!
I am going to try a whipped shortbread recipe for the first time this year! Keeping my fingers crossed it turns out 🙂
I made your Nana’s shortbread today and it is melt-in-your-mouth yummy! Thanks for sharing. I also made the Toblerone shortbread and I am waiting for them to cool. They smell delicious! This week I will also try your cheddar cheese tea biscuits…I came for one recipe and discovered many!
Thanks so much Lisa! It always makes my day when I know my recipes are making their way into other families kitchen’s 🙂
My favorite holiday family tradition is to bake cookies on Christmas eve with my family. We always make gingerbread and sugar cookies.
What a fun day that would be 🙂
My favorite tradition is decorating the tree as we recall where we got each ornament from.
That is a wonderful tradition!
We have a big breakfast and open the gifts. Then we get started on cooking our Turkey dinner.
I’m not sure I could get the Mr. to wait until after breakfast to open gifts!! He has to have his coffee though 🙂
My favourite tradition is having a little gingerbread house decorating competition.
Now that would be fun!
These look yummy,thanks.
Every christmas eve making a ginger bread house with the kids. 😀
What a fun tradition! My girls are older now, but still enjoy making a ginger bread house!
my fave tradition is taking a horse drawn carriage ride through the park to see the Christmas lights.
Now that would be awesome!
A favourite holiday tradition is baking cookies with my mom and sister.
my favorite tradition to curl up with my son, big batch of popcorn, curled up on the couch with a big blanket and watching a christmas movie
we usually open the things in our stockings on christmas eve
We make shortbread every year. It doesn’t look as yummy as yours does though.
Thanks so much Josh! That is so kind 🙂
love shortbread
You and me both Christine!
we get together on christmas eve and open one gift than we share the story of Jesus’s birth
I love it Kellie! I forgot to mention that my Mom usually makes a birthday cake for Jesus that we enjoy for dessert on Christmas Day!
We like to make Ollibollen every year at New Years.
I have to admit, I had to look up what Ollibollen was! Boy, am ever glad I did! They look delicious 🙂
Making gingerbread houses on christmas eve with my boys
I am loving all the gingerbread builders!
My favourite holiday tradition is the 12 meatless dishes we have on Christmas Eve.
12 meatless dishes! Wow, I am impressed. We have 2 vegans and a vegetarian in the family and what a challenge it is to come up with tasty dishes for them over the holidays. I am learning though!
Every year we make a christmas eve box for the kids with new pajamas, a christmas book, some snacks then we snuggle in to watch a christmas classic!
What a great idea Nicole!
Our family tradition has changed over the last few years . . . we now have our family Christmas dinner on Boxing Day! Everyone comes, from far and near, and if we’re not too stuffed after dinner we play a game (or several) of Scrabble!
That is a great idea to have it on Boxing Day. Our family all gets together to watch the World Junior hockey tournament that starts on Boxing Day anyway 🙂
I like to play family games by the lit up Christmas tree, last night we played Moose in the House and Monkeys in the Bed.
Oh my goodness! I remember Monkeys in the Bed from my days as a Spark Leader!
We have a huge dinner with extended family and friends. It’s noisy but fun.
That summed up my day today! Wouldn’t have it any other way!
we make sugar cookies every year and gingerbread houses
I love seeing how many families build gingerbread houses at Christmas! I wonder how many people actually eat them after!! I am known to help myself to the candy off ours 🙂
My favourite tradition is turkey dinner
Oh, yes indeed!
Ours is celebrating Christmas and our birthdays as all the kids in our family and my mom were all born in December, along with a couple of my nieces!
My daughter is born in December and until she was a well into her teen years, she refused to acknowledge Christmas until her birthday passed! I am so glad she got over that 🙂
Every Christmas we make the same three cookies (and more if we have time, but these three are constants) A cheddar cheese cookie, a lemon cookie and cracker toffee! When I was a little girl, in the late 60s, my grandmother taught us how to make marzipan and steamed Christmas puddings. I wish I’d have kept those traditions going, but I didn’t.
A cheddar cheese cookie? I am intrigued! Marzipan really brings back memories. It was always my grandfathers favorite and the most difficult thing to try and find. Knowing how to make it would have come in very handy 🙂
We play Family Feud with the entire extended family on Christmas day
We always have a huge breakfast on Christmas day. It’s almost as big as the Christmas day dinner we have.
It is a good thing that food has zero calories on Christmas….at least that is my philosophy!
My favourite holiday tradition is picking out a real tree and decorating it together as a family while listening to Christmas music, drinking hot chocolate, and eating cookies
Love picking out our tree! I get a little sad when it is time to take it take it all down after painstakingly choosing just the right one.
My favorite holiday family tradition is visiting family and friends on Christmas Eve,delivering presents!!
watching Christmas movies and building a gingerbread house, then smashing the house before bed for a sweet treat and snack for santa
We open our presents and stockings on Christmas morning, and have a family dinner on boxing day
My favorite holiday tradition is getting together with all of the family on boxing day for our big dinner.
My favourite is setting aside my day for baking – shortbread, squares, you name it!
My mother always makes us shortbread cookies
We love decorating sugar cookies as a family!
We go on the Christmas train every year for my daughter’s birthday, which is three days before Christmas.
I wish we had a Christmas train!
My daughter & I have been baking Christmas goodies for the last 25 years together! Last year she was not able to make it back into town in time so we face-timed together doing the same recipes! Turned out great!
That is the best!! What a great way to keep the tradition alive 🙂
cooking for the family!
we love to get Chinese takeout for NYE!
My favourite holiday tradition is going around as a family to view the holiday lights.
I bake with my kids and we usually have all our family over for dinner.
Every Christmas Eve, my 2 boys and I bake cookies for Santa Claus! 🙂
Building a gingerbread house with my little niece while having hot chocolate.
put up the tree
My favourite holiday tradition is filling and opening stockings!! They’re fun to make and give because you can customize them entirely.
A girl after my own heart! Stockings are a favorite of mine too!
We play the piano and sing Christmas carols
I love it!
We like to wear Christmas sweaters
We give the family Christmas pajamas on Christmas eve
We do as well!
My favourite Holiday tradition is spending boxing day with my mom’s extended family!
The big Christmas day meal with my partner’s family has become my Christmas tradition as I didn’t celebrate the holiday before.
My favorite traditon is baking cookies with my gram, mom, sister and 5 year old niece.
Fav holiday tradition is a big waffle buffet on Christmas morning.