Shortbread is widely associated with Christmas and Hogmanay festivities in Scotland, and some Scottish brands are exported around the world.

[9] Shortbread was expensive and reserved as a luxury for special occasions such as Christmas, Hogmanay (Scottish New Year's Eve), and weddings.

In Scotland, it was traditional to break a decorated shortbread cake (infar-cake or dreaming bread) over the head of a new bride on the entrance of her new house.

The short or crumbly texture is a result of the fat inhibiting the formation of long protein (gluten) strands.

[16] In British English, shortbread and shortcake have been synonyms for several centuries, starting in the 1400s; both referred to the crisp, crumbly cookie-type baked good, rather than a softer cake.

[17] The "short-cake" mentioned in Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Windsor, first published in 1602, was a reference to the cookie-style of shortbread.

[17] Shortcake usually has a chemical leavening agent such as baking powder, which gives it a different, softer texture, and it was normally split and filled with fruit.

Variations in ingredients for some recipes include the optional addition of caraway seeds to petticoat tails,[12] coriander and caraway in Goosnargh,[20] egg yolk and cream in Ayrshire, citrus peel and almonds in Pitcaithly bannock,[12] and demerara sugar in Dorset.