Saturday 17 December 2011

Edible Christmas Gifts Part 3: Spiced Christmas Shortbread



A plate of these babies will look and taste great on the table at Christmas. Better yet, fill a jar with your awesome and easy to make shortbread, tie a festive ribbon around the top and... BOOM! You have an inexpensive and tasty gift to give!

Ingredients:

1 cup of nuttelex or other non-dairy butter/margarine
½ cup of brown sugar
2 tsp of vanilla extract
2 cups of plain flour (white or wholemeal)
4 tsp of ground cinnamon
½ tsp of ground cardamom
½ tsp of ground cloves

To Make:

1. Preheat your oven to 180° (conventional) or 160° (fan forced).
2. In a large bowl, cream the nuttelex, sugar and vanilla extract together by mixing until smooth. I find it is easiest to do this with a fork (or an electric mixer if you have one).
3. In a separate bowl, mix the flour and spices together until combined.
4. Add the flour and spice mix (1/2 cup at a time) to the nuttelex and mix well with your fingers until a smooth, even and firm dough has been formed. This should only take a couple of minutes. If it is too sticky you may need to add a bit more flour.
5. After lining a tray with baking paper, roll small balls out of the dough and press each down gently with two fingers. After pressing down each ball, you can press down on each side of the biscuits with a fork to create a design.
6. Place your shortbread in the oven for 20-25 minutes and...
7. You can now remove your shortbread biscuits from the oven, cool them for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Note: Feel free to sprinkle these with icing sugar and/or cinnamon.

Makes 25-30 biscuits.

For a variation on these, try K-bobo's Orange and Pistachio Shortbread!


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