# 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:** 4
### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2021, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/61 "2021-11-18T01:09:13Z")
> [@amarinth](#):
>
> somehow _my shortbread just doesn’t taste quite right._ (And I can no longer get shortbread from my sisters’ friends’ Scottish grandmother.)
It could be the taste of salted vs unsalted butter - if you’re used to it one way, the other way will taste off to you.
-needscoffee, who has made literally thousands of shortbread cookies and has the carpal tunnel repairs to to show for it
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2021, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/62 "2021-11-18T01:28:08Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#):
>
> That stabilizer is basically a bit of seaweed. Most food additives are harmless and that one is too.
I’m not worried about the safety, and i like the addition of carrageenan, even look for it, when I’m making whipped cream. But i wonder if it wouldn’t make it a bit “off” if the goal were butter.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2021, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/63 "2021-11-18T03:06:26Z")
Yep. For @SciFiSam to get a full picture, I found a website that has a list of heavy creams and which are additive free:
> **[Heavy creams with the fewest additives - Toxinless](https://www.toxinless.com/heavy-cream)**
>
> Ingredient data for 18 heavy creams with recommendations for the top 9 purest products.
Organic Valley is the only brand I’ve heard of in the “plain ol’ cream” list.
Dean’s brand is probably the most popular (?) and has some mono and diglycerides, polysorbate 80, and carageenan added to it. I’ve used Dean’s for butter, and it works fine. I’ve personally never found the additives to be problematic for butter making. But, yes, it annoys how difficult it is to just get plain ol’ cream.
Sour cream is similarly often peppered with these thickeners and stabilizers, but that one seems to be easier to find made from unadulterated cultured cream. My Daisy brand sour cream only lists that as an ingredient; Deans regular sour cream has loads of stuff, at least according to the ingredient list at instacart (Whey Protein Concentrate, Food Starch - Modified, Sodium Phosphate, Maltodextrin, Cultured Dextrose, Sodium Citrate, Gellan Gum, Carrageenan, Guar Gum, Calcium Sulfate, Locust Bean Gum, Potassium Sorbate (to Preserve Freshness). But I think they also have an “all natural” version that does not come with all the extras.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2021, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/64 "2021-11-18T03:13:52Z")
I got curious so I pulled our carton of cream out of the fridge. It just says: “Ingredients: Milk, Cream”. No mention of any additives.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2021, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/65 "2021-11-18T03:54:21Z")
I think that list must be regional. The only brand on that list that’s available out here is Organic Valley. And none of the brands of milk I buy are on it.
But the other thing to look for if you want to make butter is the % fat. I don’t know how much it varies in general, but one of the local brands of heavy cream has about 50% more butterfat than the other two brands in my supermarket. I have to assume it would be easier to make into butter, and yield more butter per batch.
(The richer brand makes awesome whipped cream if you want a dollop of cream on the side, but if I am making a whipped-cream-heavy dish, like a pie that incorporates whipped cream, I actually prefer the ones with a lower butterfat content. It makes the resulting dish a little lighter, and easier to eat a whole slice of the pie. And the stabilizers do their job.)
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2021, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/66 "2021-11-18T04:20:15Z")
checked our milk carton as well. It just says “Partly skimmed milk, Vitamin A palmitate, Vitamin D”. No seaweeed.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2021, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/67 "2021-11-18T04:22:47Z")
The seaweed is just in whipping cream – it makes it easier to whip. I don’t think anyone adds it to milk intended to just drink.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2021, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/68 "2021-11-18T04:31:23Z")
You know what – now that I’m looking online at various Dean’s brand heavy cream products, most of the ones I’m finding just have plain ol’ cream listed as an ingredient, with nothing else. I’m going to have to check the store when I get a chance in the next couple of days. I wonder if they’ve changed, or if they have different product lines, but what I’ve been looking at is plain ol’ Deans whipping and heavy whipping cream and I’m not seeing the thickeners and stabilizers.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2021, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/69 "2021-11-18T17:24:57Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#):
>
> Adding stuff to shortbread can be good too.
Heresy!
Shortbread is butter, sugar and flour. That’s it.
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### Author:  [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2021, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/70 "2021-11-18T21:35:03Z")
Needs salt. Worth trying vanilla and lemon. But they seem to sell a hundred flavours of _Triscuits_ - but none are better than the original. So you have a point. But if you’ve never it with Reese’s, who can say? It’s off the charts delicious.
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### Author:  [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2021, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/71 "2021-11-18T22:59:45Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> Heresy!
>
> Shortbread is butter, sugar and flour. That’s it.
not even a few lavender blossoms? I’m going to cry…
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### Author:  [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2021, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/72 "2021-11-23T03:40:55Z")
I know a pastry chef who recommended adding a few tablespoons of custard powder to shortbread. She said it made it taste “luxurious”.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2021, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/73 "2021-11-23T12:16:22Z")
What is “custard powder”?
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### Author:  [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2021, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/74 "2021-11-23T13:39:08Z")
An instant pudding mix in American English
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2021, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/75 "2021-11-23T14:03:23Z")
That is one of my cookie secrets. Add one packet of vanilla instant Jello pudding.
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### Author:  [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2021, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/76 "2021-11-23T14:03:46Z")
Custard powder? Something to trifle with.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2021, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/77 "2021-11-23T14:07:21Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#):
>
> I make my own butter for my shortbread cookies which helps keep down the cost somewhat
No, it certainly doesn’t. It takes two quarts of heavy cream (64 ounces go for $11.98 if you buy the cheapest brand), and a pound of butter can be had for $3.99.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2021, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/78 "2021-11-23T17:31:19Z")
Not really pudding; more of a sauce to ladle over apple dumplings and such. 🥰
[ ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/Bird%27s-Custard.jpg/1200px-Bird%27s-Custard.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2021, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/79 "2021-11-23T19:01:49Z")
I hate you.
I’m going to have to go to the Irish goods store to get some.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2021, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/80 "2021-11-23T19:22:04Z")
I’m just a sweet kinda guy. 🤗
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