Lemon And Cardamom Shortbread

Last week I told you about my new love for Cardamom. And here I am with my second bake in a week for Lemon And Cardamom Shortbread. If you are ever looking for a really simple yet delicious bake then shortbread is always the way to go. It is so straightforward that even novice bakers would do just fine on a first attempt. I have been making shortbread adding various twists along the way for years now. I like to have a batch of dough in the freezer ready for when a sugary, buttery hit is needed which let’s be honest is most weeks.. ok I admit it the dough rarely gets in the freezer.

This was an experimental bake after watching the new Jamie Oliver Quick and Easy TV show and wanting orange shortbread so badly but only having lemons in my fruit bowl. The addition of cardamom was a last minute yet clearly genius idea as the flavours work so well together. In fact my favourite local bakery made lemon and cardamom sticky buns last summer and that must have planted that particular flavour combo firmly in my brain. Anyway no more rambling let’s get to the recipe.

Lemon And Cardamom Shortbread

You will need:

250g Organic Plain White Flour

175g butter

75g caster sugar

zest of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp ground cardamom or 7 pods opened and seeds crushed

Preheat oven to 180c, line or grease a flat baking tray.

Mix your flour, sugar, zest and spice together well before rubbing in your butter and bringing it all together in a dough. At this stage I choose to wrap my dough in clingfilm and pop in the fridge for 30 minutes or more. You can avoid this stage if you are in a rush. Remove dough from fridge. Place your dough on a well floured surface and knead lightly before rolling out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into rectangles for traditional shortbread fingers or use a cutter for standard biscuit shapes. Use a fork to press some holes in the top of each biscuit. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Keep an eye on them as they can go from golden to burnt very quickly. Once out of the oven pop on a cooling rack and sprinkle with sugar.

Try not to eat them all in one go!

Check out my recipe for Rosemary Shortbread if you want some more ideas and next week I have a round up post of shortbread recipes from some amazing food bloggers so keep your eyes peeled.