Rose and Lemon Shortbread hearts from Charlotte at The Needy Greedy.
I use a third semolina flour for extra crispness, but you could use just plain or rice flour. When I roll my dough mix, it does seem to crack, but I just squidge back together – I’m not seeking Bake Off perfection. And if you don’t have a heart cutter, any shape will still taste delicious.
Ingredients
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
50g caster sugar
1 lemon, zest
2 tsp rose water (rose water can vary in intensity, so add just a little at a time)
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g plain flour
50g Semolina
Caster sugar to decorate.
Method
Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, lemon zest, rose water and vanilla in a large bowl for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.Scrape the bowl down and add the flour and semolina, a pinch of salt mixing together briefly until it starts to come together as a dough. Bring together into a ball using your hands.
Put the dough on a flour board. Flour the rolling pin. Flatten the dough with your hands, then roll out to 1-2cm thick. It does crack a bit, don’t stress it. If you can chill for about 30 minutes, then do.
Preheat the oven to 170˚C, gas mark 3; line a baking tray with non stick parchment. Using a heart cutter, cut out the shortbread and put on the baking sheet. Any dough left over, reroll and cut some more hearts.
Cook in the oven for about 10 mins until golden at the edges and cooked. If you want, take out at 8 minutes and sprinkle some caster sugar and put back in the oven.
Put on a cooling rack, and allow to crisp. Store in airtight tin.
