Citrus Shortbreads Food

CITRUS SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until light-colored and fluffy. Beat in sugar, zest, and matching extract.
• Mix together flour and salt and mix into butter mixture on low speed just until combined. Do not overmix.
• Knead a few times on a lightly floured board and roll out to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Cut into desired shapes with well-floured cookie cutters and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Prick each cookie with a fork a few times and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake shortbread for about 20 minutes, or until it just begins to brown. Cool completely on a rack. Shortbread will keep for a few weeks in an airtight container.

STAMPED CITRUS SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Prepare the cookies: Add flour, cornstarch and salt to a medium bowl, and whisk to combine. Set aside.
• Combine butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Zest half the orange and half the lemon directly into the bowl. Reserve the lemon and orange for the glaze. Cream the butter mixture on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add vanilla and lemon extracts and beat on medium speed until well combined, scraping the bowl a few times as needed.
• Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. Scrape the bowl and fold a few times to make sure everything is well combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, flatten into a disk, and chill until firm, at least 1 hour, and up to 3 days.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut dough in half and let one piece warm up for 30 minutes if it has chilled longer than an hour. Return the other half to the refrigerator. Portion the dough into pieces roughly the size of walnuts (a scant 2 tablespoons/about 35 grams), then roll each piece into a ball between your hands. One at a time, dip a ball of dough into flour and set on work surface. If dough balls soften too much, return them to the refrigerator to firm up for a few minutes. You want it cool, but malleable. Dip cookie stamp in flour, and press down on the ball of dough until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Remove stamp. (If dough sticks to stamp, carefully peel it off. Don't worry about excess flour as you will brush it off after chilling.) Trim the edges using a 2-inch cookie cutter, and transfer dough rounds to 2 parchment- or silicone mat-lined baking sheets, arranging them about 1 1/2 inches apart. Repeat with remaining dough.
• Once you have stamped out all the cookies, knead together the scraps to make a few more. Chill in the freezer until very firm, about 10 minutes. When cold, brush off any excess flour with a dry pastry brush.
• Bake until cookies just start to turn golden underneath, 12 to 14 minutes, switching the baking sheets from front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking time.
• Make the glaze while the cookies bake: Zest the remaining skin from the reserved lemon and orange into a small bowl. Add the confectioners' sugar, butter and orange juice and whisk until smooth. If glaze is too thick, add more orange juice. If it is too thin, add more confectioners' sugar. It should be the consistency of thin custard.
• Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets, and transfer to a wire rack set over a parchment- or wax paper-lined baking sheet. Pick up a cookie, and using the back of a small spoon, spread a generous teaspoon of glaze on a cookie, letting any excess drip onto the next cookie. Repeat until all the cookies are glazed. Cool completely. Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

SHORTBREAD WITH SALT

Steps:

• In a heavy-duty stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar, about 30 seconds. Mix in the lemon zest, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 cup flour until combined. Add the remaining flour and mix on low speed just until the dough begins to come together. Move the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pull the dough together into a ball with your hands. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and unwrap it. Roll the dough into an 8 by 8-inch square, about 1/3-inch thick. Cut the dough into 16 (2-inch) squares and sprinkle them with salt.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and evenly space the little squares on the paper. Bake until light golden brown on the edges, 50 to 60 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheet. Serve at room temperature.

CLASSIC SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Beat 2 sticks butter, 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar until fluffy. Whisk 2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt, then stir into the butter mixture. Press into a buttered 8-inch square or 9-inch round tart pan. Score into wedges, strips, squares or diamonds with a fork, then chill 30 minutes. Bake about 1 hour at 300 degrees. Cool, then slice along the scored lines.

CITRUS SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and granulated sugar with electric mixer on medium speed 2 to 3 minutes or until light and creamy. Add flour, lime peel and orange peel. Beat on low speed until mixture is blended. Gather dough into a ball.
• On lightly floured surface, roll dough into 8x6-inch rectangle, about 1/2 inch thick. (If dough cracks around edges, press edges to smooth.) Cut into 12 (2-inch) squares, then cut each square diagonally in half into triangles. On ungreased cookie sheet, place triangles 1/2 inch apart.
• Bake 12 to 17 minutes or until edges just begin to brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
• In small bowl, mix powdered sugar and lime juice with spoon until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle glaze over cookies.

SHORTBREAD, 10 WAYS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Pulse together flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse to fine crumbs. Pulse a few more times until some of the crumbs start to come together, but don't overprocess; the dough should be somewhat crumbly. (You can also mix the dough in a bowl using two knives or a pastry cutter.)
• Press dough into an even layer in an ungreased 8- or 9-inch-square baking pan, or a 9-inch pie pan. Prick dough all over with a fork. Bake until golden brown, about 35 to 40 minutes for the 9-inch square or pie pan, 45 to 50 minutes for the 8-inch. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Cut into squares, bars or wedges while still warm.

CITRUS SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; set aside. Beat the butter and confectioners' sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts and orange zest. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the cranberries; mixing just enough to evenly combine.
• Divide the dough into 2 equal portions, then roll into logs about 7 inches long. Wrap each log in wax paper or plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Remove wax paper, and cut the cookie dough into 1/2-inch slices. Arrange the slices on a baking sheet about 1 inch apart.
• Bake in the preheated oven until firm but not browned, about 10 minutes.

MILK CHOCOLATE POTS WITH CITRUS SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a saucepan until it just boils, then pour it over the chocolate. Stir until smooth, then beat in the egg yolks. Tip the mixture into a jug, then pour into four individual pots and put in the fridge to set for at least 2 hrs.
• Meanwhile, put the flour, orange zest and butter in a large bowl and rub together until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and egg yolk, mix gently and bring the biscuit dough together with your hands. Roll the shortbread out on a lightly floured surface until 1cm thick, then transfer to a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Leave to rest for 10 mins in the fridge.
• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/ gas 3. Bake for 23-25 mins until golden brown, then sprinkle with sugar. While still warm, cut into eight x 2cm biscuits, trimming off any excess, and leave to cool.
• When ready to eat, whip the cream to soft peaks, then spoon on top of the chocolate pots. Serve with the shortbreads on the side.

SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Line a baking sheet with greaseproof (parchment) paper. Sift the flour and rice flour into a medium mixing bowl. Add the sugar and mix.
• Cut butter into pieces and rub into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture begins to bind together. Knead into soft dough.
• Roll the dough into an 8 inch round (or for exact round, mold it in an 8 inch cake pan). Place on baking sheet. Using a fork, prick top and make tine marks along edge. Using a table knife, score top with wedge marks. (This is where it will break when cooled)
• Bake 45 minutes or until pale golden in color. Sprinkle a little superfine sugar over top and cool on baking sheet. Cut into wedges. Keeps for weeks in airtight tin.