Almond Shortbread

The old shortbread recipe. But this time it's with a twist and one now that I've discovered, will not have me rushing back to the plain run-of-the-mill type. Sorry. These shortbread would be dreamy with a nice cup of tea, ice cream, or a cup of cold milk.

Almond Shortbread
170g butter

100g golden caster sugar 

110g ground almonds 

200g plain flour 

1 tsp finely grated lime zest 

For the sticky caramel gloss (optional)
55g unsalted butter
110g brown sugar
50g honey
handful of whole pecans or whole blanched almonds

Set the oven at 160°C/320°F.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Stir the ground almonds, flour and zest into the mixture. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Knead the mixture a little to mix it fully until it resembles more of a dough.

Loosely wrap the dough in enough cling-film and gently roll it into an even thick log shape. Refrigerate for around 30 minutes. Remove the dough from the fridge and with a sharp knife slice into biscuits about 5mm/ ¼" thick. Place them on a non-stick baking sheet.

Bake for about 25 minutes, until the biscuits are barely coloured. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes.


For the caramel gloss (completely optional)
Keep a cooling rack near, you will need it. Combine the butter, brown sugar and honey in a saucepan and stir over medium heat. Simmer the mixture for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and leave to cool no longer than 3 minutes. Carefully dip the shortbread into the warm mixture until halfway. Place on the cooling rack and add a pecan or almond to decorate before mixture hardens. Work quickly repeating until all the shortbread has been used. Leave to cool on the rack for at least an hour, momentarily rotating each shortbread to avoid sticking, until the caramel has hardened.


Adapted from Nigel Slater's almond shortbreads