Recipe: Lemon and Cardamom Shortbread
Burns Night often inspires me to share something Scottish in spirit and flavour. In past years I have made everything from cranachan cake to cranachan macarons to spiced nut caramel shortbread. These lemon and cardamom shortbread are a simple bright bake combining citrus freshness with gentle spice. They are dipped in sugar and dangerously moreish.
Ingredients
For the shortbread
175g plain flour
110g butter
50g caster sugar
Zest of one lemon
1 tsp ground cardamom
For finishing
Caster sugar for dipping
Method
Preheat the oven to 150°C fan. Rub the butter into the flour then add the cardamom lemon zest and sugar. Knead gently until the mixture forms a dough. Roll out to about 5 mm thick and cut into shapes with a cutter.
Place the shortbread on trays lined with baking paper leaving a little space between each one. Bake for about 15 minutes until pale golden. Leave to cool slightly on the trays then dip each biscuit in caster sugar. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
A Seasonal Note
These shortbread belong to Imbolc the Celtic season of quiet renewal when the light is slowly returning and small signs of change begin to appear. Lemon adds brightness for the turning of the year while cardamom brings the soft warm spice still welcome in Winter’s final stretch. Simple fragrant and uplifting they echo the gentle beginnings of Imbolc.
