The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and shortbread fun facts. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know we will look at Shortbread fun facts.

Shortbread Fun Facts: Shortbread is a type of cookie traditionally made from one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three parts flour (by weight).

  • Shortbread is different from shortcake, though they are similar. The difference is that shortcake can be made using vegetable fat instead of butter and usually has a chemical leavening agent such as baking powder, which gives it a different texture.
  • Beside the three primary ingredients, many shortbread recipes call for salt, which helps to enhance the taste.
  • Shortbread history goes back to at least the 12th century and originally started as biscuit bread.
  • Shortbread originated in Scotland, with the first printed recipe, in 1736, from a Scotswoman named Mrs McLintock.
  • Shortbread was defended by early Scottish bakers who fought to prevent shortbread from being classified as a biscuit to avoid paying a government tax on biscuits.
  • January 6th is National Shortbread Day.
  • Traditional shortbread comes in either rounds, fingers or “petticoat tails” – delicate triangles cut from a larger circle, made to resemble the petticoats which medieval ladies, like Mary Queen of Scots would have worn.
  • The large amount of butter is what makes shortbread short. The term short, when applied to biscuits and pastry, means crumbly.

Shortbread Fun Facts We May Have Missed

Let us know about any Shortbread Fun Facts we missed. We always love to add to these lists. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia facts about Shortbread.

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