# Why is shortbread so expensive?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** food-cooking
**Created:** [November 15, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401 "2021-11-15T16:29:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2021, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/21 "2021-11-15T20:25:44Z")
Between the Walker’s, Lorna Doones and Pecan Sandies you just described my past few weeks. Only a few Lorna Doones left.
---
### Author:  [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/22 "2021-11-15T20:29:37Z")
That’s easy. It’s in SHORT supply. 😈.
---
### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2021, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/23 "2021-11-15T20:34:02Z")
Yeah, [a batch of the Nestle chocolate chip cookies](https://www.verybestbaking.com/toll-house/recipes/original-nestle-toll-house-chocolate-chip-cookies/) makes several dozen (5 dozen is the quoted amount I saw), and uses 2 sticks of butter. Even if you go with bigger cookies, it’s still like 3 dozen.
By contrast, [this shortbread recipe](https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/shortbread-cookies-recipe-1945855) uses 3/4 of a lb of butter (3 sticks) for 20 cookies.
So in order to match the number of cookies, the shortbread recipe would take 2.25 lbs of butter instead of 1/2 lb.
---
### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2021, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/24 "2021-11-15T20:45:07Z")
> [@Limmin](#):
>
> I’m humbled…@dolphinboy and others would consider making your own butter? Holy smokes!
I’ve actually made butter by hand.
The process is simple.
What makes it difficult is the required repetition of motion. Back in the days of doing it with human muscle power this could be onerous. With modern appliances/tools it’s not so bad.
For me, the real difficulty these days would be finding actual cream that isn’t mixed with other ingredients.
---
### Author:  [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2021, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/25 "2021-11-15T22:23:02Z")
> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> For me, the real difficulty these days would be finding actual cream that isn’t mixed with other ingredients.
Look for organic or local and call up the source and ask. Which can make it even more expensive of course, but sometimes not. I found a dairy that sells most of theirs to restaurants but the pandemic caused them to open up to the locals. Now their back focusing on restaurants.
---
### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2021, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/26 "2021-11-15T22:30:20Z")
Yeah, something like that - my usual shopping haunts don’t carry unmixed pure cream so I have to go out of my usual way/patterns to get it.
---
### Author:  [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/27 "2021-11-16T05:11:28Z")
I would have thought that having butter as such a major ingredient would decrease its shelf selling dates, especially if it’s imported - am I wrong?
---
### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/28 "2021-11-16T05:44:14Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#):
>
> I would have thought that having butter as such a major ingredient would decrease its shelf selling dates, especially if it’s imported - am I wrong?
No, you’re not wrong. Shortbread cookies made with butter (even salted butter) will turn rancid after a time. I cleared some out of a cabinet at a food product company that were about 9 - 12 months old; they were pretty foul. Made with non-cultured, salted butter.
---
### Author:  [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/29 "2021-11-16T06:28:56Z")
Hey, thanks for pointing that out! I got to thinking about it, and I seemed to recall that Nabisco stopped using trans fats in their cookies awhile back. The ingredients list I posted must have been old. Here’s a current one:
### Ingredients
Unbleached Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate {Vitamin B1}, Riboflavin {Vitamin B2}, Folic Acid), Sugar, Canola Oil, Palm Oil, Corn Flour, Salt, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Baking Soda, Soy Lecithin, Cornstarch, Artificial Flavor.Contains: Wheat, Soy.
---
### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/30 "2021-11-16T09:33:32Z")
Reading this column has stirred some ancient memories.
I first made shortbread around 1974. At the time, I knew an old Scottish woman who (I swear!) recommended cutting the butter with margarine. As I recall, I tried it once and was sorely disappointed with the quality of the finished product.
Has anyone else ever heard of this? (I never, ever use margarine in anything if I can avoid it.)
Also, which is better: shortbread made with salted or unsalted butter? I don’t think I’ve ever made it the second way.
Jamie Oliver once showed on TV how to make butter at home using a food processor. I had no idea it could be done so quickly.
---
### Author:  [@tavaritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavaritz)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/31 "2021-11-16T11:32:23Z")
The diffrence of making whipped cream or butter is the temperature of the cream.
This was learned on home ed in 5th grade.
---
### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/32 "2021-11-16T11:40:55Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> I first made shortbread around 1974. At the time, I knew an old Scottish woman who (I swear!) recommended cutting the butter with margarine. As I recall, I tried it once and was sorely disappointed with the quality of the finished product.
>
> Has anyone else ever heard of this? (I never, ever use margarine in anything if I can avoid it.)
No, but i once bought some coconut oil (solid at room temp) and my husband really disliked it, so i adapted a shortbread recipe to use it up, and have away most of the cookies. It didn’t taste like butter, it tasted like coconut, but it was quite tasty.
---
### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/33 "2021-11-16T13:49:17Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#):
>
> Aw hell - I milk my own cow that lives out back!
Well, sure. But do you grow your own alfalfa to feed the cow? And birth and rear your own calves? And make your own tractor to plow the field that grows the alfalfa that feeds the cow that makes the milk? And…
---
### Author:  [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/34 "2021-11-16T18:17:44Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> Has anyone else ever heard of this?
Lordy, mom would use margarine for everything except spritz cookies, where butter is part of the flavor. The doc had told her not to feed me butter as I was a roly-poly baby, never mind that the calorie count was the same. The baking industry was on board with using margarine because it was so much cheaper than butter. By the time I moved out of the parental home, I was using butter on almost everything. It makes such a huge difference in flavor and often in texture too.
---
### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/35 "2021-11-16T18:32:50Z")
> [@Musicat](#):
>
> Well, sure. But do you grow your own alfalfa to feed the cow? And birth and rear your own calves? And make your own tractor to plow the field that grows the alfalfa that feeds the cow that makes the milk? And…
Oooh - you’ve got a TRACTOR!
I’ve overwhipped cream to the point of butter. Wasn’t aware temperature was involved.
---
### Author:  [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/36 "2021-11-16T20:03:37Z")
I confess, I do not mine and smelt all the ores needed to produce my tractor
---
### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/37 "2021-11-16T20:15:54Z")
Do you need gas for your tractor? I pump the crude and refine it myself in my kitchen.
---
### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2021, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/38 "2021-11-16T20:45:42Z")
I modified mine for methane and harvest my farts.
---
### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2021, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/39 "2021-11-17T10:44:16Z")
You think shortbread is expensive, try pricing some longbread.
mmm
---
### Author:  [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2021, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/40 "2021-11-17T11:40:18Z")
> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> For me, the real difficulty these days would be finding actual cream that isn’t mixed with other ingredients.
What would these other ingredients be? Cream is just … cream. Isn’t it?
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401.md?page=1)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401.md?page=3)