Buttery Lemon Shortbread

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Buttery, melt in the mouth, sweet, crispy, delicious shortbread with a slight kick of salt and a zesty lemon finish. Made in minutes, with a handful of store cupboard ingredients, these biscuits are wonderful served simply for a snack with a cup of tea or coffee, or as an accompaniment to a dessert. They work wonderfully well with something smooth, creamy and silky such as a mousse or panna cotta, for example. You can also use this recipe as a base to create all sorts of flavour and texture combinations. Replace the lemon with orange zest for example, or miss it out altogether. Add chopped chocolate and/or nuts, or simply dip the finished, cooked biscuits into melted chocolate. There are so many different ways to make shortbread biscuits.

Why does this recipe contain more butter than a classic shortbread recipe?

When looking at American shortbread recipes, I noticed that they use much more butter and sugar than the classic Scottish recipe, which is 3 parts flour, 2 parts butter and 1 part sugar. Like most British recipes, these parts are defined by weight. The American deviation from such a classic recipe confused me. However, when translating the American cup measurements into grams, it occurred to me that the majority of American recipes were also pretty close to a 3:2:1 ratio. Rather than being based on weight however, these ratios were based on volume. With so many Scottish immigrants to the USA, I can only assume that over time, whilst the ratios have remained the same, the manner of measuring the ratios have changed in line with how recipes are classically documented in these different parts of the world.

This particular recipe is really a hybrid of the two. It is made with a higher proportion of butter, like American recipes, but with less sugar and a combination of flour and semolina, like my classic shortbread recipe. The semolina helps to help give it that classic crunch and the extra butter gives it a luxuriously buttery flavour.

How to make Buttery Lemon Shortbread

Collect all your ingredients together:

• unsalted butter, at room temperature
• caster sugar
• finely grated lemon zest
• plain/all-purpose flour
• semolina (or replace with extra plain/all-purpose flour)
• fine salt
• extra caster sugar for sprinkling

How to make this delicious shortbread:

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas 3 (fan 140°C). You will also need an 18cm/7in loose-bottomed round cake tin. You shouldn’t need to grease the tin because there is so much butter in the shortbread mixture. However, if your tin is prone to sticking, grease and line it, to be sure.
2. It is important that the butter is at room temperature and soft enough to beat. If it is a little hard, beat it with a whisk before adding the other ingredients. If it is already quite soft, you do not need to do this. For more information on softening butter, see here.
3. Weigh the caster sugar into a mixing bowl. Grate the lemon zest directly on top of the sugar and use your finger tips to rub the zest into the sugar. This helps to release the oils from the zest and bring out the lemon flavour.
4. Add the soft butter to the lemon sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
5. Weigh in half of the flour, the semolina and the salt. Roughly fold in with a spoon or spatula and quickly beat with an electric whisk. When incorporated, add the remaining flour and mix until it just comes together. Be careful not to over-mix at this stage.
6. Roughly shape into a flat round shape and place into the centre of the prepared tin. Use your fingers or a spoon to press it into the tin and then take a palette knife or flat sided jam jar to press/roll the top of the shortbread and ensure an even surface. Do not press too hard or the shortbread will be tough and hard.
7. Bake in a preheated oven for 30 – 40 minutes. It is cooked when it is very lightly browned. Take out of the oven and leave in the tin for ten minutes.
8. After 10 minutes, push the base with the shortbread on, out of the tin, onto a flat surface. Leave the shortbread on the base, immediately slice into biscuits and prick with a fork. Shake over some caster sugar and set aside for the shortbread to cool.

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Made this recipe?

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