Okay, it's time to clear up the shortbread confusion once and for all.

Today I went to a pot luck party. I brought tourtiere, a traditional French Canadian meat pie that my grandmother used to make. One guy said, "Aw man...you didn't bring your sweetbreads!" To this I replied, "Nope, that would have been OFFAL!" No one got my play on words, but I was pretty pleased with myself.

People call my product (shortbread) all kinds of things. Allow me to offer a brief explanation of the difference between sweetbreads, shortcake and shortbread so that next time you order, you'll know what to ask for!

Sweetbreads are animal innards. Often they are made from the thymus or pancreas of a piglet or calf. They have no relation to shortbread. I have tried sweetbreads at a fancy restaurant and found them pretty darn good. I had to try them once! I have no clue where the name sweetbread comes from. Vermont Shortbread Company does not produce sweetbreads.

Shortcake is a sweet biscuit. It's typically crumbly and made with flour, sugar, butter or some other fat, milk or cream and baking soda or baking powder. Strawberry shortcake (fresh strawberries and whipped cream thrown on top of one of these biscuits) is a favorite summer dessert for Americans.

Shortbread (my gourmet food product), is a traditional Scottish cookie made from butter, sugar, and flour. Our version at Vermont Shortbread Company contains a lot of butter, giving it a slightly chewy texture. We fill our shortbread with jam fillings (raspberry or strawberry), chocolate, lemon curd, walnut cinnamon, almond, or leave it plain with no filling (traditional shortbread). I've seen shortbread in many forms - a large round "cake" (we call it a gift box at VSC) baked in a mold that gives it a pretty design with scored triangular wedges called petticoat tails, small round cookies, or "fingers" (long rectangular pieces). At Vermont Shortbread Company, we make a shortie which is a 4" round shortbread baked in a tart pan.

In summary, shortbread is an elegant, classic, old fashioned and simple dessert that has become a Christmas favorite for many people, tall and short. Enjoy your sweetbreads and shortcake, but BUY some shortbread.

That's the long and short of it.

Copyright 2006, Ann Zuccardy.

Ann Zuccardy

Simmer two decades of professional writing experience with a dash of creative, independent spirit, blend together with love and imagination and bake slowly. That's what Ann Zuccardy did when she launched Vermont Shortbread Company back in 1996.

Ann altered a traditional Scottish shortbread recipe to produce a slightly moister version of this age-old favorite. The result: one-of-a-kind, melt-in-your-mouth Vermont Shortbread that hints of old-world authenticity even as it pleases the American soft-cookie-loving palate.

Surrender to the ecstacy that is Vermont Shortbread... crumbles of cookie goodness bursting with creamery butter that will more than satisfy your yen for "a little something" with your afternoon tea.

When Ann's not in her bakery inventing new shortbread flavors, she bakes with words. Ann enjoys a long and successful career as a freelance writer covering a buffet of topics from high tech software documentation to copywriting and food writing.