Butterscotch Candy Shortbread

  

Butterscotch is a type of confectionery whose primary ingredients are brown sugar and butter. 

 

Butterscotch is similar to toffee, but the sugar is boiled to the soft crack stage, not the hard crack. 

 

Often credited with their invention, Parkinson’s of Doncaster made butterscotch-boiled sweets and sold them in tins, which became one of the town’s best-known exports. They became famous in 1851 after Queen Victoria was presented with a tin when she visited the town. Butterscotch sauce, made of butterscotch and cream, is used as a topping for ice cream (particularly sundaes). 

The term butterscotch is also often used more specifically for the flavor of brown sugar and butter together even if the actual confection butterscotch is not involved, such as in butterscotch pudding (a type of custard).

 

Thank you, Parkinson’s of Doncaster.

 

Not only do I have fond memories of butterscotch sundaes with Dad on special occasions, I LOVE browned butter AND shortbread.

Nutty, sweet, buttery, and simply delicious in every way.

 

Feel free to add a few butterscotch candy discs for some extra candy crunch delight to these already superb buttery-butterscotch shortbread cookies!

Butterscotch Candy Shortbread 

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
½ tsp. sea salt
2 sticks Kerrygold butter (1 cup), melted and cooled to room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup butterscotch “chips”
butterscotch candy discs (optional)

 

Butter and flour a 4-by-14-inch rectangular tart pan or an 8-inch round tart pan with a removable bottom.

 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, and sea salt.

 

In another medium bowl, whisk together the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. 

 

Stir the flour mixture into the butter and mix until just incorporated. 

 

Fold in the butterscotch chips. Spread the dough into the prepared pan, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or quick chill in the freezer for 30 minutes. 

**If desired, press butterscotch candy discs into dough or into decorative cookie cutout shapes in the dough.

 

Preheat the oven to 325°. 

 

Remove the shortbread from the refrigerator and place in the oven. 

 

Bake until golden and set, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Let the shortbread cool slightly before carefully removing it from the pan. 

 

Cut into squares for serving and eating