Shortbread is a traditional Scottish biscuit known for its rich, buttery flavor and crumbly texture. With some common ingredients, the popular sweet dish can be made by various techniques.

A food expert, Alexandra Kitchen, shared a simple recipe for making the Scottish treat using five ingredients. She tried making it without a food processor and was left highly impressed.

In her blog, she wrote: “The recipe does not call for a food processor. Through my experiments, I found myself really liking Tartine’s mix-by-hand method.

“You will need room temperature butter, but if your butter is not very soft — as in mayonnaise soft — you can do what Tartine suggests: melt a small amount of it; then mix the melted butter with the softened butter. It works likes a charm!

“I have made this shortbread recipe both ways — food processor and by hand — and I find there to be no difference in the texture of the cookie in the end. And as much as I love using my food processor, it’s nice having an alternative method.”

She used unsalted butter, sugar, vanilla essence, all-purpose flour, and kosher salt as the five ingredients.

Start by taking the butter, and if it isn’t soft yet, you can melt two tablespoons of it. After getting a whipped texture, add salt to it

Give it a nice stir to combine the mixture well.

Once done, add sugar and vanilla and give it another mix.

The final step is to add flour and mix it until it forms a crumbly dough.

Spread the dough into an 8-9 inch baking dish and then smooth the batter with a bench scraper.

Move the shortbread into the over for 35 minutes to see the final results.

She concluded: “Sprinkle with sparkling sugar (or superfine or granulated), if you wish, then let cool for 30 minutes. Cut the shortbread with a knife while it’s still warm.

“It can stay in the pan for several hours (and even overnight) after this point, but it’s important to cut it while it’s warm. I find the shortbread to be even better on day two.”