Lemony Almond Shortbread And A Shot Of Sour Redolence

Lemony Almond Shortbread

Lemony Almond Shortbread 2

I acquired the habit of munching on Scottish shortbread fingers when I was studying in Durham more than two years ago. Back then, I could buy up to two packs a week – a behaviour that is not unlike that of a smoker and his pack of cigarettes. It did not help that shortbread cookies were sold at such affordable prices in the UK – at least two to three times cheaper than those found in Singapore.

The original flavour of shortbread is still my favourite, though I hate to admit the flavoured ones – lemon, cheese, almond etc – are just as scrumptious. Since I have some chopped almonds left in my fridge, I thought I might as well add these into the shortbread. And… well, since I’m already at it, why not infuse a tad of lemon flavour too?

So, there you have it – my lemony almond shortbread.

Ingredients:

  • Unsalted butter: 150g, softened
  • Icing sugar: 55g + extra, sifted
  • Lemon juice: of 1 lemon
  • Lemon zest: of 2 lemons
  • Lemon extract: 1 tsp
  • Salt: a pinch
  • Plain flour: 225g, sifted
  • Corn starch: 2 tbsp, sifted
  • Chopped almond: 1 cup (50g)

Method:

  1. Cream butter and icing sugar together with electric mixer till pale and creamy.
  2. Add lemon juice, zest, extract and salt. Beat till combined.
  3. Slowly add in flour and corn starch till a soft dough forms.
  4. Gently fold in almonds. Turn dough onto baking paper.
  5. Shape dough into rectangular block. Wrap it up and refrigerate for at least 1 hr till firm.
  6. Preheat oven at 180 degrees.
  7. Remove dough from fridge and unwrap baking paper.
  8. Using a knife, slice into desired shapes and sizes at about 3mm thickness.
  9. Place 1-cm apart on baking tray. Bake 15 min till light golden brown.
  10. Remove from oven and cool for 5 min.
  11. Sift icing sugar onto shortbread fingers to serve.

Lemony Almond Shortbread 3

Tricks:

  • Experiment with the ingredients of the shortbread recipe. You could replace the almonds and lemon flavour with chopped fruits (e.g. cranberries), vanilla extract or other herbs for a variety of flavoured shortbread.
  • The sifting of icing sugar onto the baked cookies help to neutralise the sourness from the lemon. If using sweet ingredients instead of lemon, this step would be optional.

Disclaimer:

  • Given that this was the my first attempt at baking shortbread, I must admit I did a real bad job at shaping the dough and slicing the cookies, hence their deformed shapes and edges. The next time I bake this, I’ll roll them out into 1-cm thick pieces first and then cut them out using cookie cutters.

Serving:
Makes 20 ‘rectangular’ shortbread fingers

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