Love this recipe! I followed the recipe as stated and it was delicious! Definately going to be my go to recipe for shortbread. I made another batch but baked it low and slow (300' oven) but you didn't state for how long, so I baked it for 30 mins as the edges started to brown. The edges were nice and short but the centre was more on the moist/softer side. How long should I bake it for? I also baked it in a 9" tart pan to change it up. It was still delicious!!

Hi, I think you are looking at relative percentages like is commonly used in bread baking and sourdough (baker's percentage). That's definitely another way of looking at it, but I personally find that method confusing. I much prefer to look at the amount of an ingredient compared to the total weight. In your 1:1:1 example, butter is 1/3 of the total weight, thus roughly 33% of the total weight of ingredients or 50 grams of the total 150 grams of combined ingredients. 230 grams of butter in a mixture of ingredients that weighs 690 grams total is also 33% (rounded number).

I do see your point though and I think I will update this post soon to reflect baker's percentages (that are percentages relative to the weight flour) because it seems more common in the baking world these days. Thank you for bringing it up! I honestly hadn't thought of the shortbread ratio in this way but you are correct that it's also a way of expressing the relative weights of the ingredients in this recipe (and any recipe)!

P.S. Thank you for catching the typo! I corrected it! Much appreciated!

The 1-2-3 ratio for classic shortbread is correct, here, however, it appears that butter and sugar ratios are either inadvertently switched or a typo. Butter is actually 67% (2 parts) and sugar is 33% (1 part ).

A slightly easier method to calc a ratio is to take the smallest unit and use the inverse of division. Simply multiply the smallest unit by 1, 2, and 3, respectively.

345g flour - 100% (3 parts)
230g butter - 67% (2 parts)
115g sugar - 33% (1 part)

One other common method is to calc each ingredient based on amount of flour, which is always 100 percent. With a 1-2-3 ratio, this still results in 67% butter and 33% sugar.

Unless I am misunderstanding the information regarding 1:1:1 ratio, butter is also not 33% in this type of ratio.

If each ingredient is equal in parts, then each ingredient is 100 per cent of one another; no ingredient, including butter, is 33%.

50g butter - 100% (1 part)
50g sugar - 100% (1 part)
50g flour - 100% (1 part)

The difference is definitely the ratio's and definitely the double-bake. For me this has a been food-proof recipe, even when I make a couple of batches with regular fat content butter. The only risk for me is the time when transferring the still fragile first bake to a new pan for the second bake.

Thank you for the excellent ratio explanation and excellent recipe. I've passed it along to others looking for a fool-proof recipe and I've printed it out for myself to make sure I can always have it on hand for when I need it at the start of December.

Maybe it needs a re-up on your blog!

Best - Sasha

So the first time I made this recipe, I followed it exactly. It turned out nice but it was crumbly to a fault and too dry. This time I semi-melted my butted so that it was quite soft and creamed it with the sugar as directed. I’d also doubled the recipe this time so when it came time to put in the flour I put 5 cups instead of 5 1/2 cups (2 1/2 cups in the regular recipe rather than 2 3/4). It turned into much more of a dough than a crumble and was easier to smooth out into the pan. It baked nicely, though I did have to put it in for longer. I then followed the directions for removing it from the pan and rebaking it. I will definitely be making this again.

I love shortbreads and have been searching for a really good pan one. I was wondering - if you double this can you make in larger pan to make more? I am all for larger pans. One time work for more products. 🙂

Adding rice crispies to shortbread sounds crazy, but also fun! I guess that I would treat the rice crispies as though they were nuts, so mixing them into the crumbly shortbread mixture before spreading it in the pan. I think it'd work that way, but I haven't tried it yet. Let me know how it goes if you do!

My coworker mentioned adding rice krispies to shortbread (is that sacrilege?). If I were to do that, would I change anything else with the recipe?