More Christmas cooking.

Years ago, I was lucky enough to work with a Greek man whose mother liked baking. This man’s problem was, the same man’s Greek wife preferred being skinny to eating her mother in law’s cooking. So, to keep everyone happy, his mother cooked, his wife fit in her skinny jeans and his co-workers happily ate the excess cakes, biscuits and dolmades.

He very kindly passed on his mother’s recipe for shortbread, which I have adapted slightly.

I iced the shortbread with a lemon glaze, but they are nice plain if you can’t be bothered. I actually meant to make a thicker icing to drizzle on top, but over enthusiastically tipped too much lemon juice into the icing sugar. They taste nice anyway.

250gm butter
3/4 Cup icing sugar
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 egg
3/4 Cup almonds (or walnuts or pistachios or whatever buts you prefer).
2 1/2 Cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest, beat in the egg, then fold in the nuts, flour and baking powder to make a soft dough.

Roll large teaspoons of mixture into logs then curve into a horseshoe shape.

Bake at 160 degrees Celsius for about 14 minutes, until lightly golden. Cool on tray.

Lemon Icing

Juice from 1 lemon
1 Cup icing sugar

Mix together and dunk the top of the shortbreads into the icing. Leave to dry on baking paper.