Saturday 2 August 2014

Scrumptious summer shortbread

I have been asked by Nielsen-Massey to use some of their flavours and extracts. Vanilla is easy, it goes in lots of things and always tastes amazing. I love vanilla extract, but really don't like the cheap stuff I don't think it's even made fom vanilla. I vaguely recall reading somewhere that it comes from some kind of tree bark. So, splash out on the nice stuff, you won't need to use much so it will last a long time.
Something I've not used in my baking before is lemon flavouring. So I tried to get a bit creative and came up with a Lemon and Lavender shortbread.  Both perfect summer flavours. 

Ingredients:
250g unsalted softened butter
100g caster sugar
1/2 tsp lemon flavouring
250g plain flour
100g cornflour
1/2tsp salt

Method:

Blitz the sugar, lemon flavouring, lavender and butter together in a food processor until creamy. Add the flour, cornflour and salt. Pulse the food processor until the mix beignets to come together in clumps and turn out onto a floured surface.
Bring together fully into a ball being careful not to over work the dough as that will prevent the end biscuit being 'short' and crumbly.
Roll the dough out to a 25cm circle, use a cake tin or plate as a guide and trim around to get a neat edge.
Use two fingers to crimp the edge. 
Using a fork mark out 8 even slices in the dough.
Place on a tray and put in the fridge for 30 mins.
Transfer the tray to a pre heated oven to 189c/160 fan/ gas 4. Bake for around 25 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
Leave the shortbread to cool completely on the tray, then using a sharp knife divide into peticoat tails along the lines marked out by the fork prior to baking. 

The lemon gives a lovely citrus refreshing flavour with a slight aftertaste and scent of the lavender. Enjoy with a cup of tea in the garden.



No comments:

Post a Comment