Lemon Shortbread
Photography by Rebecca Bijl .
A delicious edible gift recipe from pretty new charity cookbook, Friday Treats. Buy a copy to give alongside a box of shortbread and contribute to the Music Centre of Christchurch Building Fund.
Use a biscuit stamp, available at kitchen shops, to make your own individually branded biscuits.
225g unsalted butter, softened
150g caster sugar
2 teaspoons lemon rind, finely grated
250g flour
100g ground almonds
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
½ teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 180°C.
2 x flat baking trays, greased and lined
Beat butter until creamy then add sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Add lemon zest and beat again.
Add sifted flour, ground almonds, cardamom and salt. Mix until combined.
Roll spoonfuls (30g or so) into balls and place on lined trays. Flatten cookies slightly with hand then press each cookie with a cookie stamp leaving indentations in the dough.
Bake for 12-14 minutes until golden around the edges.
Leave for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
Store in an airtight container for up to a week.
MAKES 24
TIP: Dip biscuit press in flour if mixture sticks to press. You can also stamp a message with individual letters into the cookie dough.
This recipe was kindly reproduced with permission from Friday Treats, the Music Centre of Christchurch fundraising cookbook. For 18 years the Music Centre of Christchurch was an expanding and flourishing enterprise offering performing, teaching and administration spaces for the musical and arts community in Christchurch. The 2011 earthquakes put a halt on proceedings when premises were demolished, and the Music Centre ceased.
Since then, whilst planning for new premises, the Music Centre has hosted numerous concerts, at the end of which Bronwyn Bilj and Fiona Marri provided baking treats. After many requests for the recipes, they are now shared in one beautifully designed book, with all proceeds going towards the Music Centre Building Fund.
Click here to buy the book, priced $25.00+shipping, and see www.musiccentre.org.nz for more details on the new facility.
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