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This Gluten-Free Shortbread recipe is the melt in mouth buttery biscuit with a touch of crunch that you know and love. A classic Scottish recipe which here uses oat flour, cornmeal and tapioca flour for a wonderful taste and texture with no xanthan gum. It’s incredibly quick to make and so versatile that you can adapt it to endless flavour variations.
The quest for the perfect Gluten-Free Shortbread was not one undertaken lightly. I have an absolute weakness for shortbread and dearly missed it when I switched to a gluten-free diet. Although humble in origin, the beautiful buttery taste of shortbread elevates the confection to a more special status than mere biscuit or cookie.
The right gluten-free flour combination for this particular bake eluded me for a long time. It is often the case that the simpler baked goods can be more tricky to convert into gluten free recipes, especially where regular flour is such an integral part of the recipe with few other ingredients. So I threw myself a mini party when achieving this delicious gluten-free version which produced the perfect shortbread in taste and texture.
Table of contents
- What is shortbread?
- Why you'll love this recipe
- Watch to see how to make it
- Gluten-free flours needed
- How do you make gluten-free shortbread dough without oat flour?
- Full list of ingredients
- Step by step instructions
- Expert tips
- Shop the recipe
- Flavour variations
- Serving suggestions for shortbread
- FAQs
- Other classic gluten-free British recipes:
What is shortbread?
Shortbread is a traditional Scottish confection made with sugar, butter and flour. The earliest printed recipe is credited to a Mrs McLintock in 1736. However, the first versions as a bread dough to which melted butter was added can be traced back to medieval times.
Shortbread needs to have a beautiful buttery taste and a slight bite upfront that gives way to a sandy crumb. In modern versions white rice flour is often included to encourage the crunch. Conversely cornflour is sometimes added to accentuate a soft sandy texture.
Shortbread is so much more than a humble biscuit. In fact its national status as a ‘speciality item of flour confectionary’ was fought vehemently by the Scottish Association of Master Bakers so that it would not be taxed as a biscuit. This simple cookie is often gifted at Christmas in decorative tins and certainly not out of place at high tea.
Why you'll love this recipe
- Tastes just like your favourite classic shortbread with a perfect toasted buttery flavour.
- Soft texture with a touch of crunch and slight crumble
- An easy recipe to make with just 3 gluten-free flours and 4 other simple ingredients.
- Ultra quick. 10 minutes of hands on work then just 30 minutes in the oven.
- No xanthan gum - it's not needed thanks to our carefully chosen blend of gluten-free flours. READ MORE >>> Why I don't bake with xanthan gum
Watch to see how to make it
Gluten-free flours needed
After many recipe tests where the shortbread was either too crumbly, too gummy or not enough bite I eventually discovered the perfect gluten-free flour blend for this recipe which only needs 3 flours:
- Oat flour
- Cornmeal (not cornflour / corn starch)
- Tapioca flour
Oat flour
Gluten-free oat flour is used for its light tender crumb and delicious butterscotch taste which works beautifully with the butter and vanilla.
Oat flour substitution: Usually I might suggest a substitute as even gluten-free oat flour can be difficult to digest for hardcore intolerances. However, if this is the case for you I would like to point you towards a slightly different flour combination (scroll further down to see).
Cornmeal
In regular shortbread the wheat flour can be cut with white rice flour to add crunch. I found without the wheat flour to temper it the white rice flour made the shortbread claggy. Cornmeal is an excellent substitution. I found a very fine white cornmeal which worked well here but any cornmeal will do. The courser the grind though the more definitive the crunch. Note. polenta is a course grind cornmeal
Tapioca Flour
This is the starch we need to stop our shortbread from crumbling apart.
✨Please note. I do not recommend replacing the flours in this recipe for a gluten-free all purpose flour or measure for measure flour as doesn't have the right balance and it won't produce the same results.✨
How do you make gluten-free shortbread dough without oat flour?
If you can’t tolerate oat flour then I recommend a slightly different flour combination. It is just as delicious but the bite of the shortbread is not as short. The recipe and ingredients list are exactly the same except remove the oat flour and tapioca flour. Instead use:
- 175g almond flour
- 150g very fine white cornmeal
Note that this version doesn’t need any starch. The almond flour has enough protein to hold the shortbread together.
Full list of ingredients
- Oat flour
- Cornmeal
- Tapioca flour
- Butter
- Caster sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
Step by step instructions
For full recipe instructions go to the recipe card at the end of this post.
Shortbread is a minimal effort type of bake. It takes about 10 minutes to mix all the ingredients together and only 30 minutes in the oven.
- Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla extract.
- Sift the flours together with the salt then beat in.
- Press the soft dough into a cake tin.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Leave to cool completely to room temperature in the tin for an hour before removing onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
Expert tips
- Use the best unsalted butter you can find. It really makes a difference as this is the overriding flavour of your shortbread.
- Use the best quality vanilla extract. I like Nielsen Massey here.
- Gluten-free shortbread won’t brown too much. This is correct, you want it to be quite pale with a slight nod towards going golden. However if you are using yellow cornmeal rather than white then it will colour slightly more.
- If your scoring has disappeared during the bake then re-score lightly in its tin as soon as it comes out of the oven, be careful as it's very crumbly at this stage.
- Leave the shortbread in the tin as long as possible. I recommend at least an hour but I have been known to place it in its tin straight into the fridge from the oven to cool and remove from the tin a couple of hours later ready to cut.
- Leave the shortbread to cool completely before cutting. Otherwise it has a tendency to crumble. The shortbread will firm up as it cools.
Shop the recipe
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Buy Now → Flavour variations
Plain unadorned shortbread is delicious as it is but if you wanted to jazz it up slightly then let’s go for it.
Chocolate Caramel Shortbread
Here the shortbread is drizzled with 2 tablespoons melted chocolate, 2 tablespoons dulce de leche and a crumble of sea salt. The dulce de leche is warmed up slightly to make for easy drizzling.
Other ideas
If chocolate and caramel aren’t your thing then there are so many other routes you can go. The earliest versions of shortbread included preserved lemon, orange peel, nuts and caraway seeds. All of which would be delicious. Here are some other suggestions to add to your dough before baking.
- Lemon Shortbread – zest 1 lemon
- Lavender Shortbread – 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped lavender flowers
- Chocolate Chips - a handful of chocolate chips.
- Strawberry Black Pepper Shortbread - 3 tablespoons of freeze-dried strawberry powder and ¼ teaspoon of cracked black pepper.
- Ginger Shortbread – 2 tablespoons diced stem ginger and 1 teaspoon ground ginger.
- Iced Shortbread - Beat 180g icing sugar with the juice of 1 small lemon together and spoon over your cooled shortbread. You can also flavour the icing with any of the flavour variations mentioned above.
Serving suggestions for shortbread
Although an excellent accompaniment to tea or coffee, shortbread can often elevate a dessert. Try serving shortbread alongside:
- Chocolate mousse
- Affogato
- Lemon Posset
- Strawberries and Cream
- Crumbled over ice cream
FAQs
This shortbread is best stored at room temperature in an airtight container and will last up to 5 days.
Absolutely. The easiest way is to can use a rolling pin to roll the cookie dough into a quarter inch thick circle and use your favourite cookie cutters to cut out your preferred shapes. Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet until golden brown but the baking time will be reduced from the original recipe below.
Other classic gluten-free British recipes:
- Gluten-Free Eccles Cakes
- Gluten-Free Fruit Cake
- Rice Flour Madeira Cake
- Vinegar Cake
- Gluten-Free Victoria Sponge
- Gluten-Free Scones
✨Have you tried this Gluten-Free Shortbread? Please leave a 5-star ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ rating on the recipe card and consider leaving a comment as well! I would love to hear about how your recipe turned out and your feedback also helps other readers✨
Buttery Gluten-Free Shortbread
Ingredients
- 225 g unsalted butter
- 100 g caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 150 g oat flour
- 125 g very fine white cornmeal
- 50 g tapioca flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan assisted oven/gas mark 4.
- Line and grease a 20cm (8 inch round cake tin).
- Beat the butter and sugar together for 3-4 minutes until light and creamy.
- Add the vanilla extract and stir to combine.
- Sift together the oat flour, cornmeal, tapioca flour and salt then add to the butter and sugar. Beat until it is fully incorporated.
- Tip the dough into the baking tin and press into the tin using your hands.
- Use a sharp knife to gently score four lines across the diagonal of the shortbread to mark out the intended slices.
- Pierce the surface of the shortbread with the tines of a fork a couple of times to let the air escape.
- Bake for 30 minutes until the top is just starting to turn golden.
- Remove from oven then rest the shortbread for an hour in the tin before removing. Leave to cool completely on a cooling rack before cutting into wedges.
Video
Notes
Can’t have oat flour?
If oat flour is problematic for you then I recommend a slightly different flour combination. The recipe and ingredients list are exactly the same except remove the oat flour and tapioca flour. Instead use:- 175g almond flour
- 150g very fine white cornmeal
Pro tips
- Tip #1 Use good unsalted butter. This is the main taste of your shortbread so you need it to be the best you can find. Organic, unsalted butter direct from the farm if possible. You will notice the difference. (likewise with the vanilla extract)
- Tip #2 If your scoring has disappeared during the bake then re-score lightly in its tin as soon as it comes out of the oven, be careful as it's very crumbly at this stage.
- Tip #3 Leave the shortbread to cool completely before cutting. Otherwise it has a tendency to crumble. The shortbread will firm up as it cools.
Teri says
Hi Georgina
Going slightly crazy here trying to determine which cornflour to use! You've mentioned in the comments that you use PAN harina, and I'm not 100 % sure if that's the same as what I have here, I can buy yellow "farinha do milho" or white "farinha do milho", then I can buy Maizena, which as far as I know is cornflour (UK) that we use to thicken sauces etc. The farinha do milho is sold in 500g packets, which makes me think it's not just cornflour. One packet gives the information that it's corn flour type 70, I have no idea what that is, but I think....maybe...it might be the fine white cornflour you specify in this recipe? Due to confusion on my part, I'm going to follow the advice you gave in a different comment, and swap out the cornflour entirely for almond flour. Any thoughts on my cornflour dilemma gratefully received!
Georgina Hartley says
The cornmeal used for this cake is not cornflour (cornstarch) but the kind that's a little more gritty. Similar to the kind used in polenta.
Janelle says
Can I use Rice flour instead of the Corn meal as I have this on hand. Or would just using Almond flour to replace the Cornmeal component be better. I really want to use the oats and tapioca but just not the cornmeal.
Georgina Hartley says
Using rice flour instead of the cornmeal isn't my favourite substitution here as it does make the shortbread a little claggy. I would try the almond flour with the oat flour and tapioca flour instead.
ET says
I love this recipe, but whenever I make this recipe, the shortbreads are always very crumbly. Are they supposed to be that way, or am I doing something wrong?
Georgina Hartley says
They should have a slight crumble in the mouth (as is the nature of shortbread) but shouldn't be breaking apart and crumbling. Did you make any adjustments to th recipe?
ET says
Many, many years ago I bought some shortbreads while holidaying in the lowlands of Scotland. They were ridiculously creamy and I never found anything to compare back in Australia. This recipe reminds me those shortbreads - just the best.
ET says
Ridiculously good...
Megan says
This was all my husband wanted for this birthday. He's not even the gluten free one in this house. He says it might even be better than his grandmother's. High Praise. 😀
Georgina Hartley says
Hi Megan, I'm so happy to hear that - that is high praise indeed!!!
Ryan McMullan says
I learned an important lesson in trying this out. The cornmeal recommended by the recipe (Pan Harina) is actually a pre-cooked cornmeal used in make arepas. I tried getting standard, but fine cornmeal (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O99K8VE/) but it was still unpleasantly gritty. I got some Pan Harina and will try that.
Also note that Pan Harina is different than Mexican-style Masa (used to make corn tortillas), which is treated (nixtamlized) to release more protein, but changes the flavor a bit. Pan Harina is not nixtamlized and should have a cleaner corn flavor.
Georgina Hartley says
Hi Ryan, actually I use all kinds of cornmeal when I make this recipe - even though I recommend that particular brand - as I use whatever I have in. Yes there is a little grittiness to the finished result - and for different brands will be more pronounced - but that is the intention in this shortbread recipe. Usually in non- gluten-free shortbread you achieve that grittiness from using rice flour but here I use cornmeal. I totally understand if that is not what you prefer - thank you so much for sharing your feedback I'm sure it will be a great help to people contemplating baking this recipe.
Chrishy says
I am so excited to try this! Can I use potato flour in place of tapioca? Unfortunately, I am intolerant.
Thank you!
p.s. have you tried coconut flour in place of the cornmeal?
Georgina Hartley says
You can use potato starch (not potato flour) instead of the tapioca flour. But I wouldn't recommend the coconut flour in place of the cornmeal - it would really dry out the bake.
Chrishy says
Thank you! I actually meant potato starch, oops. I also have arrowroot - would that be a better sub? Thank you again! 🙂
Georgina Hartley says
Yes you can sub for arrowroot - it will work well!
Kaz says
Everyone in my family (4 generations of us) LOVE this shortbread!
I'm a lazy cook so I just whiz it all up in my processor and it works every time.
It's really great with toasted macadamias and lemon myrtle added to it.
Georgina Hartley says
That's great to hear! The addition of the toasted macadamias and lemon myrtle sound wonderful!!!
Rosalind Ray says
Hi Georgina,
Can I use a vegan butter instead of real butter in this recipe? I use Naturli’ for everything at home and I feel it tastes quite like the butter I used to eat (many moons ago).
Thanks for your help
Georgina Hartley says
Hi Rosalind, I haven't baked with that brand of vegan butter (actually I've never baked with any vegan butter) so I can't say what effect that change will have on the recipe. If it works for other biscuits and cakes when you swap it in, I don't see why it wouldn't work here but I can't guarantee.
Andrea says
hi, thank you for the wonderful recipe!!!
this shortbread tasts like heaven.
Greetings from Northern Germany <3
Georgina Hartley says
Such a pleasure - thank you!!
Iseult says
Thanks!
Iseult says
Looking forward to trying this recipe. Does very fine cornmeal mean a flour consistency - no grittiness at all?
Georgina Hartley says
There will always be a little grittiness as it is cornmeal but the finer ground cornmeal is preferred for this recipe.
Michelle M says
Another winner From the Larder!
This recipe is faultless - very easy to make (even to grind my own oat flour) and tastes exactly as I remember shortbread to taste (soooo many years ago!)
I divided the mix between two pans to create thinner 'Petticoat Tails' and I'm glad I did as this recipe is equally as more-ish too - Georgina, your site will be my downfall!
Thank you
Helene says
Oh wow
This is a fantastic recipe
At last I found a free from short bread recipe
Belief me I tried many!!
And none came even close to this one
Thank you so much ❤️❤️
Georgina Hartley says
Hi Helene - you are most welcome! Thank you for your feedback!
Sharon says
This is the best gluten free recipe I have found. Don’t take out of the oven too soon.
Georgina Hartley says
Hi Sharon - that's great to hear - thank you!
Nicole says
Hi Georgina, I can't do corn (intolerance) do you think tapioca flour could work in it's place?
Georgina Hartley says
Hi Nicole, perhaps as the two flours do behave quite similarly. However, I couldn't guarantee before I have tested it. Give it a go - worse case scenario it wouldn't be a total disaster - it would still taste good I'm sure.
Marie-Louise says
Hi Georgina, this looks really delicious but I don't quite have the ingredients available and the local health shop can't order them in either at the moment. Would I be able to substitute cornflour for the cornmeal (what's the difference exactly?)? And if I have some gluten free oats at home can I just blitz them in a baby food blitzer to make oat flour?
Thanks very much,
Marie-Louise
Georgina Hartley says
Hi Marie-Louise, no you can't really substitute cornflour for cornmeal. The latter is very grainy and does not hold the bake together like cornmeal does. Can you get hold of tapioca flour or arrowroot as they would be a decent substitutes. Yes, you can just blitz the oats to make oat flour. Please take a look at my post all about oat flour.
Marie-Louise says
Hi Georgina,
Thank you so much, that is so helpful. Yes I have tapioca flour as I'm also trialling out your Irish Soda Bread recipe, so I'll let you know how both turn out.
This site is amazing, as I was so fed up with all the rice flour shoved into everything gluten free, and you provide lots of great alternatives with super useful explanations as to what role each flour plays, without having to source totally weird ingredients from impossible places.
Georgina Hartley says
Thank you Marie-Louise, there is so much choice out there for alternative flours and I love experimenting and having fun with them. I look forward to hearing how the recipes turn out!
susan foster says
I halved this recipe and used it as the base for chocolate caramel shortbread - fabulous,
Georgina Hartley says
Yes! That sounds amazing!!
Janet Barton says
Hi Georgina, can I ask which white corn meal you use and where you buy it?
Thanks, Janet
Georgina Hartley says
Hi Janet, I use Harina Pan Blanca which I bought from Tesco but you can also get from Amazon. I've now included an Amazon affiliate link in the post if you want to check it out there.