Place the ingredients, in the order
listed, in the work bowl of the food processor.
Pulse until the ingredients hold
loosely in the shape of a ball.
Drop the dough onto a clean, ungreased
baking sheet, and knead a couple of strokes to make any loose crumbs
adhere.
Use your fingers to press the dough
out into a circle about 7 inches in diameter.
Prick with a fork to make the dotted
outlines of 8 pie-shaped wedges, as if cutting a pizza.
Bake for 30 minutes, until still pale
but starting to turn golden.
Cool and break along perforations.
Serves 8
Traditional Scottish shortbread includes
rice flour, which gives it the faintly nubbly texture. Since most of us
don't keep a lot of ground rice on hand, you can use some cornstarch
instead with quite good results.
