Using just three household ingredients you can whip up a batch of traditional Scottish shortbread cookies for the holiday season.

During the hustle and bustle of the holidays, when everyone seems to be reaching for bigger and better, it’s lovely to remember that some things never change.

A traditional Scottish shortbread cookie is one of those things. Pure, simple and oh-so sublime, it needs no adornment to get the message across. Do you see what we see?
 

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup superfine sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions
1 Preheat the oven to 300°F.

2 In a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. The dough is ready when it holds its shape when squeezed.

3 Separate the dough into four round balls of equal size and roll each into a 1/2" thick 7" disc. Score the top of each disc into eight equal wedges. (Alternatively, press each ball into a metal or wooden shortbread mould dusted with icing sugar and smooth the top with a rolling pin. Remove from the mould before baking.)

4 Bake until the bottoms of the cookies are light gold, 20 to 25 minutes.

5 Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with more superfine sugar while they’re still hot; let the cookies cool on a rack before breaking into wedges to serve.

Makes: 32 wedge cookies