Fully cooked shortbread rounds on a baking sheet |Place of
origin||United Kingdom| |Region or state||Scotland| |Main
ingredient(s)||Flour, butter, white sugar| Shortbread is a type
of biscuit ("cookie" in American English) which is traditionally
made from one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three
parts flour. The use of plain white (wheat) flour is common
today, and other ingredients like ground rice or cornflour are
sometimes added to alter the texture. Also, modern recipes often
deviate from the pure three ingredients by splitting the sugar
portion into equal parts granulated sugar and powdered sugar and
many further add a portion of salt. Shortbread is so named
because of its crumbly texture (from an old meaning of the word
short). The cause of this texture is its high fat content,
provided by the butter. The short or crumbly texture is a result
of the fat inhibiting the formation of long protein (gluten)
strands. The related word "shortening" refers to any fat that
may be added to produce a "short