Ingredients:
6oz Plain flour
4oz Soft butter
2oz caster (granulated) sugar
1 oz cornflour

Method:
Mix the butter and sugar together (preferably with a wooden spoon) until it is pale and creamy.

Sieve both the flour and the corn flour into the bowl and mix well.

 Put a small amount of flour on your working surface and place the dough on this.

 Shake a little flour on top and roll out about quarter inch thick.

Prick with a fork and cut into rounds with a cutter or, if you want one large shortbread round, pinch the edges with thumb and finger all round.

Use a palette knife to lift the shortbread onto an oiled baking tray and bake for 25 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 325F/170C/Gas Mark 3.

If the biscuits are ready, they will be pale brown and crisp; if not, return to the oven for 5 or 10 minutes.

Shake a small amount of caster/granulated sugar on the top of the shortbread immediately after they have been removed from the oven.

Use a palette knife to move them to a cooling rack and store in an airtight tin once they are cold.

Although the word "shortbread" is derived from shortening, and may have been made as early as the 12th Century, it is during the 16th Century that Mary, Queen of Scots favoured the  familiar Petticoat Tails which have become famous the world over.

A tradition with the Shortbread was to break it over the head of the bride as she crossed the threshold of her new home.