Sweet and buttery, this shortbread is laced with orange and has chewy raisins in every bite. It can be made ahead and kept in tins or frozen.
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Shortbread is a simple mixture of butter, sugar, and flour.
But by no means is it a simple flavor. It's buttery, sweet, deep, and comforting.
A good shortbread is not hard to make but it's all in the details.
We added orange and raisins to a traditional recipe and it turned out wonderful, with personality but not losing the old-fashioned feeling.
Shortbread dough
- It's short: as the name implies. And in pastry, that means that it has a high ratio (proportion) of fat (in this case it's butter) to flour.
- It's crumbly: in appearance, and comes together when you pat it in the pan.
Scoring the shortbread
To score is to make a cut on top of the dough.
It usually applies to bread, such as French bread, where you make slits or superficial cuts before baking it.
For this recipe, we score the dough before and after baking, while still hot. This makes it easier to cut fully later and separate the pieces of shortbread.
If you waited until it's cold, the shortbread will break too much.
Shortbread is an interesting thing because you can take a century-old recipe and it'll still be as good as a new and improved one, the changes through the years - like adding some rice flour or cornstarch - lacking in significance as a whole.
Shortbread is all about the proportions of three ingredients: butter, sugar, and flour.
The rest are fillers. Like the raisins here. But worth adding. If you're into raisins that is. If not, it's good without them. Good old-fashioned shortbread.
Old Fashioned Raisin Shortbread
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup orange juice
- ¾ cup raisins
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 ½ cups flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a small saucepan boil ⅓ cup orange juice with ¾ cup raisins until almost no juice is left, about 5 minutes. Let cool completely. It can be done ahead and kept for a day at room temperature or in the fridge for a few days.
- Preheat the oven to 300ºF (150°C).
- Have ready a square or round 8-inch pie or cake pan with removable bottom.
- In a bowl cream ¾ cup unsalted butter with a wooden spoon. Add ¼ cup sugar and combine very well.
- Add raisins (with juices) and mix.
- Add 1 ½ cups flour and ¼ teaspoon salt and mix thoroughly until well combined and no dry spots are visible.
- Dump into the pan, and with lightly floured hands, pat evenly on the bottom.
- Score with a sharp knife without reaching the bottom, and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until it turns lightly golden and dries out.
- Let cool on a wire rack and carefully unmold.
- Cut along the lines, and store in an airtight container.
Notes
from Bon Appetit, December 1985
Anne Olson says
I have these in the oven right now and they look like they will be wonderful.
But, this recipe doesn’t say to add the raisins. I did anyway of course but
can you perhaps add this to the assembly steps so it is known when to add them.
With the flour, before adding the flour, or after adding the flour?
Thank you!
Paula Montenegro says
Hi Ann! Sorry for that. They should be added with the flour. I’ll rectify it in the recipe. Thanks for the heads up.
Marissa | Pinch and Swirl says
I love that your reviving vintage recipes - especially Bon Appetit! I remember that you too had held on to the issue of foods from various areas in the Mediterranean - I thought I was a little nuts to hold on to magazines for so long. I'm so glad I'm not alone!
These shortbread look amazing! I love the idea of chewy sweet raisins in crumbly, buttery cookies. 🙂
Kitchen Riffs says
I actually summoned up the will to throw out Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines dating back to the late 1970s a few years ago when we made a major move. We really wanted to downsize, and I hadn't looked at most of the magazines more than once. So I spent several weeks looking through them, ripping out recipes I wanted, and then tossed them. Of course I haven't bothered to look at most of the recipes I've ripped out since then! But they're so hard to give up. And I'll never give up my cookbooks (around 300 of those). Anyway, great shortbread. I love the flavor and texture of shortbread, and this one is particularly nice. Thanks.
Elisabeth Foodandthrift says
Paula, I agree with you on those vintage recipes from Bon Appetit. I no longer kept my magazines from the eighties from Bon Appetit...I donated all of them; except for Christmas and Thanksgiving issues on some. Had to downsize when I moved into my beach condo apartment a few years ago.
Your shortbread cookies are incredibly rich and delicious. I just love the addition of the raisins, and the diamond shapes you cut them are truly a vintage style. Hugs,
Patty Price says
Just scrolled back up for another look at this shortbread- I don't want to leave this page and the shortbread behind, sigh 🙁
Patty Price says
If I make this old fashioned raisin shortbread-I will most likely want to eat the entire pan!!! I know-it's a problem but if I had a pan of this shortbread I don't think I could bring myself to give it away so then I would have to make a second pan and I might eat that one too and then my pants might not fit!!!! I'm kidding, sort of.... I do really like this recipe, ....I am a huge lover of raisins in cookies and they are seriously not safe around me!! 😉
Hester @ Alchemy in the Kitchen says
(My first comment vanished so apologies if I am repeating myself). I lost 5 cookbooks this week to an open window and rain. I haven't got the patience to nurture them back to health. Will just have to console myself by making a batch of this lovely shortbread.
dentistvschef says
just perfect for my brunch....
i thnk a little bit of nutw wiulb be lovely even more....
Nancy @ gottagetbaked says
I would love to come visit you and comb through all of your cookbooks. It sounds like you have so many gems in that collection. This shortbread looks ridiculously good and your photos are gorgeous, so rustic looking. I love it. And your links always make me laugh. Keep 'em coming, lady!