Served in Scottish Shortbread “cups,” these appetizers are sticky, salty-sweet and delicious. Shortbread has been around for many centuries, thought to have originated in Scotland as a specifically designed biscuit using yeast.
Over time, the base of this recipe has evolved into 1 part sugar, 2 parts butter and 3 parts flour, with additions to match desired tastes. Taste the flavor of Scotland, YANKED!
Ingredients
Savory Shortbread Crust
- As needed Nonstick cooking spray
- 1/4 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
- 6 tablespoons flavored cream cheese, room temperature*
- 6 tablespoons flour
- *Chose the flavor you desire. I used Garden Vegetable cream cheese, but there is such a variety, I hesitate to begin naming all of them.
Filling
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1 strip bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
Preparation
- 1 Preheat oven to 350-degrees F.
- 2 Grease a 6-cup mini muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
- 3 Beat all crust ingredients together with an electric mixer until it forms a dough. Pinch off 6 equal-sized balls of dough.
- 4 Between 2 sheets of film wrap, roll each ball of dough out into a circle just large enough to cover the bottom of muffin cups and up the sides about an inch. Line each of the prepared muffin cups with rolled out dough; set aside.
- 5 For the filling, beat all ingredients together with an electric mixer until well combined.
- 6 Divide filling among the 6 lined muffin cups. The filling may come up over the sides of the dough slightly, but that is fine.
- 7 Bake 18-20 minutes, or until the center of the filling is firm. Remove from oven to cool slightly before lifting out to cool enough to serve.
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