A cold, thick mist settled over the River Ness. On its banks, light ‘pop’s could be heard from within the Glen Mhor Hotel as Tupperware containers were carefully opened.
A sweet scent filled the air. Bakers arranged their handmade delicacies on a plate behind their given number. The Highland Shortbread Showdown commenced.
Now in its third year, the Highland Shortbread Showdown calls businesses from across the region to compete for their bake to be crowned the best shortbread in the region.
The base ingredients are the same, flour, butter – or another fat – and sugar, but each will have their own way of making them sing.
12 heats take place across the Highlands and Islands ahead of a grand final at Eden Court in Inverness on March 8.
The heats for bakers from the Inverness and Loch Ness region were held last Friday, and yours truly was invited along to be on the judging panel. A tough day at the office.
My fellow judges
My fellow judges were Stuart Fraser, sales manager at Williamson Food & Drink, Lewis Maclean of Maclean’s Highland Bakery and Fernando Basaldua Bazaldua, owner and baker of Xoko Bakehouse in Inverness.
You could cut the tension with a palette knife as we took our seats the judging table, in front of all the bakers.
We were to judge 19 shortbreads, scoring them out of 10 on texture, flavour and appearance.
Businesses could submit a traditional shortbread, a flavoured shortbread, or one of each. Our judging was blind, so while we didn’t know who had baked the shortbreads before us, those in the audience knew if it was their treat we were slating.
I say slating, but we weren’t quite that mean.
As judges, we had different skills between us; Stuart knew what would sell, Fernando knows flavour with his Mexican background, Lewis was able to get into the nitty gritty of how things were baked and I, well, I was able to give the opinion of your average punter with a sweet tooth.
All shortbreads great and small
We had been advised to come hungry, and it’s a good job as well, because once the shortbreads started coming, they didn’t stop.
I will admit I completely underestimated just how different a bake made from only three ingredients could look, taste and feel when made by different people in different kitchens.
Some shortbreads were tiny, others were wide and thin, or had scalloped edges. Many were dusted in sugar, others decorated with thistles or cut into little flowers.
When it came to flavour, they varied drastically in sweetness. Lewis identified which had used less traditional ingredients, like replacing butter with lard or using granulated sugar instead of caster.
Texture was a big talking point too, did it melt in the mouth or require a little more crunching? Could it have done with five minutes more or less in the oven?
Sticky toffee pudding and an Old Fashioned
While the traditional shortbreads were delicious, it was the flavoured ones I was most excited for. I wasn’t let down either.
Bakers hadn’t held back – one of the most impressive was a sandwich-like concoction with chilli jam between two coconut-flavoured shortbreads.
While the judges agreed the coconut was lost a little, we praised the creativity.
One of my favourites was a shortbread inspired by an Old Fashioned cocktail, the flavours of whisky and orange punchy, but the texture a little on the soft side.
Sticky toffee pudding and heather honey were also immortalised in shortbread form.
Time to deliberate
Once we were suitably full of shortbread – and covered in crumbs – the judges headed into a side room to begin some very tricky deliberation. We had to pick the three best shortbreads of the day, whether flavoured or traditional, to go through to the final.
We compared scores, tallying them all up together, and had another nibble to jog our memories where necessary.
In the end, we were all agreed on the three that stood out enough to go on to next weekend’s final. There, prizes will be given to an overall winner, a best traditional shortbread, a best flavoured shortbread and a public’s choice.
Who were our winners?
The top scorer all-round was a traditional shortbread made by the team at Cawdor Castle.
We highlighted the prefect crumbly texture, right balance of sweetness and uniform, pretty shape as reasons for its success.
Surprisingly, the next shortbread we had loved was submitted by the same team, a bake flavoured with lime and cardamom.
Both flavours shone, which Fernando explained to the audience is difficult to do as baking often causes things to lose flavour.
Lara Elder was there from the Cawdor Castle team to see their shortbreads awarded, but she quickly admitted it was their chef, Willie Macleod, who had done the baking.
She also revealed the chef was between two flavoured bakes on the morning of the competition, and selected the winning shortbread at last minute.
Our final winner was Dorothy Morrison, representing R MacDonald & Son. I recognised Dorothy, as she won the public’s choice award at last year’s final. She obviously has a real talent for shortbread.
What is the secret?
For me, her traditional all-butter shortbread was everything I wanted from the bake, sweet and buttery with the perfect snap – and a thistle imprinted on top for added flair.
It would certainly hold its own against a steaming cuppa. Luckily, the other judges agreed with me. She was thrilled to be among the winners, having baked the shortbread in her oven at home.
“My secret is that I put a lot of love into it,” said Dorothy.
Riding a sugar high – that would indeed see me through the rest of the day – I politely turned down the offer of leftovers and headed for home.
I don’t envy those judges who will be at the helm of the final, having seen what only this small pocket of the region has to offer. That being said, I have no doubt our Inverness and Loch Ness finalists will bake us proud.
The grand final of the Highland Shortbread Showdown will take place at Eden Court on Saturday March 8 from 10am to 2pm. It is open to all and free to attend. More information at visitinvernesslochness.com
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