Who is choosing?

Sugar-free dessert planners

If shortbread will accompany a dessert or become one of its ingredients, check the biscuit’s sugars figure and then consider what the other ingredients add.

Home shortbread bakers

Changing a recipe gives you control over its ingredients, but reducing or omitting added sugar does not by itself establish the sugars content of the finished biscuits.

Shoppers comparing carbohydrates and portions

A sugar-free description addresses sugars, not the biscuit’s total carbohydrate or energy. Compare the nutrition panel with the amount you plan to use.

What should you check?

Decide whether the finished biscuit must be sugar-free before choosing between packaged shortbread, a home recipe and conventional all-butter fingers.

Priority What to check Your needs
Sugars Compare sugars per 100 g on the exact biscuit with the 0.5 g per 100 g sugar-free threshold in Business Companion’s February 2025 UK guidance. Neither gluten-free nor all-butter describes its sugars content. I need the shortbread itself to meet a sugar-free requirement, not simply to contain less sugar than another recipe.
Portion and nutrition Read total carbohydrate and energy separately from sugars, then consider the amount used. Nutz4Nuts lists the Gullón 330 g shortbread at 68 g carbohydrate and 439 kcal per 100 g. The biscuit may form only part of my dessert, so I want to assess the portion I will actually serve.
Ingredients Check the received pack for sweeteners and allergens. The UK retailer’s Gullón listing includes maltitol, isomalt and milk ingredients; a Gullón page for another market gives different milk information. When serving other people, I need the ingredient and allergen declaration for the pack I have, not a listing from another country.
Recipe and format For home baking, assess the finished recipe’s sugars. Silver Spoon’s reduced-sugar shortbread recipe declares 2.6 g sugars per 25 g serving; a no-added-sugar description also does not establish that a bake is sugar-free. I would rather bake the biscuits myself, even if that means checking the finished recipe instead of choosing a ready-made sugar-free biscuit.

Common mix-ups

  • Reading gluten-free or reduced-sugar as sugar-free

    These descriptions answer different questions. The checked Joybuy Walker’s gluten-free shortbread lists sugar, while Silver Spoon’s reduced-sugar shortbread recipe declares 2.6 g sugars per 25 g serving.

    Use the exact biscuit’s sugars per 100 g when checking a sugar-free requirement.

  • Assuming sugar-free means low in carbohydrate or energy

    Nutz4Nuts lists Gullón Sugar Free Shortbread Biscuits at 68 g carbohydrate and 439 kcal per 100 g. Its sugars figure does not describe those other values.

    Compare the separate nutrition figures and the portion you intend to serve.

  • Relying on an ingredient list from another country

    The checked UK retailer listing mentions milk ingredients, while a Gullón manufacturer page for another market says milk may be present. Those are not interchangeable declarations for the pack you receive.

    Check the actual pack’s allergen information before serving the biscuits to someone with an applicable allergy.

Relevant brand references

These examples refer to particular shortbread products or ranges; a brand name alone does not establish whether a biscuit is sugar-free.

Gullón

Nutz4Nuts lists Gullón Sugar Free Shortbread Biscuits in a 330 g pack with less than 0.5 g sugars per 100 g.

  • The listed ingredients include wheat flour, sunflower oil, maltitol and isomalt.
  • Check the received pack’s allergen declaration: the UK retailer listing and a manufacturer page for another market describe milk differently.

Walker’s Shortbread

Walker’s Shortbread lists its checked Shortbread Fingers with 32% butter and 16.2 g sugars per 100 g.

  • The stated butter content helps distinguish these fingers from the checked Gullón shortbread.
  • These particular fingers do not meet the sugar-free threshold; the figure does not describe every Walker’s product.

Dean’s

Dean’s lists all-butter and traditional shortbread fingers with separate ingredient and nutrition information.

  • Its all-butter fingers list 31% salted butter, making the recipe style clear.
  • Dean’s lists 17.7 g sugars per 100 g for the checked all-butter fingers and 17.1 g per 100 g for its checked traditional fingers. Neither variant is sugar-free.

M&S

M&S describes shortbread formats including all-butter biscuits and a Made Without Wheat option.

  • Those descriptions can help narrow a choice by recipe or wheat content.
  • Neither description establishes the sugars content; check the particular product’s nutrition panel.

Waitrose

The checked Waitrose shortbread category includes own-label fingers, gluten-free butter shortbread and Walker’s fingers.

  • The listed formats offer different starting points when the sugar-free requirement does not apply.
  • A category listing does not establish that any particular biscuit is sugar-free; check its sugars per 100 g.

Joybuy biscuit option

This Joybuy option is a sugar-free-labelled digestive biscuit, not shortbread. Consider it only where a digestive biscuit suits your dessert plan; do not treat it as the Gullón shortbread discussed above.

Gullon Zero Sugar Free Original Digestives 400g

Gullon Zero Sugar Free Original Digestives 400g

These are digestives rather than shortbread, so choose them only if that biscuit format works for your recipe. The product name says sugar-free; check the pack’s sugars per 100 g and assess any other dessert ingredients separately.

View on Joybuy

Questions about sugar-free shortbread

Does “no added sugar” mean shortbread is sugar-free?

No. Shortbread made without added sugar can still contain naturally occurring sugars. Check the finished biscuit’s sugars per 100 g against the 0.5 g per 100 g sugar-free threshold given in Business Companion’s February 2025 UK guidance.

Can a dessert containing sugar-free shortbread be called sugar-free?

Not on the biscuit’s description alone. Other ingredients contribute to the finished dessert, so its sugars content must be assessed separately before describing the whole dessert as sugar-free.

How should I store packaged shortbread?

Follow the instructions on the pack you receive. A Gullón manufacturer page says to store its shortbread somewhere cool and dry, but the received pack is the relevant instruction for the product in hand.