Best Ever Lemon Shortbread!

This crumbly, zesty Lemon Shortbread is so easy to make and ready in under an hour. My family can’t get enough of this delicious shortbread and the white chocolate drizzle is the cherry on the top!

Happy March folks!

How are we nearly 1/4 of the way through 2018 already!? Considering it’s almost Spring, the weather doesn’t seem to have got the memo because we currently have a wind chill of -12C and snow outside. I am trying to coax out the sun with this zingy lemon shortbread, but it’s not working thus far!

However… it’s not as bad as Lapland.

I do now feel though, that because we conquered -20C+ and feet of snow, we can definitely conquer whatever Britain has to throw at us. Everyone else? Not so much.

This country always grinds to a halt when there’s a little bit of snow, but I think we outdid ourselves this year.

The trains were “winding down in anticipation” of the snow….. yes you read that right. BEFORE anything actually happened, they decided to run a reduced service. We are an embarrassment.

Someone I work with had to wait 4 hours for a train on Monday, before a single snowflake touched the ground.

We’re even being told how to walk. Apparently we should walk like a penguin. We had a diagram and everything on the news this morning!!! I have now seen it all.

SO, lemon shortbread. Crumbly, buttery, full of lemon zest and with a white chocolate drizzle. This just screams Spring to me. Light, delicate flavours with classic buttery shortbread and chocolate because we all need some chocolate in our lives.

I don’t use the words “best ever” lightly either. This shortbread is honestly, truly the best I’ve ever tasted. My husband (first time writing this, seems so weird to finally be able to call him that!) would easily eat all of them if I didn’t fight him for a couple of wedges myself. He actually mixed a slice with caramel ice cream the other day and the man is onto something. It tasted awesome!

Now, don’t be alarmed when you mix this “dough” together, it’s meant to be crumbly. Part of what makes this shortbread so good is the fact it’s very short. Mix it together until you have lumps of dough and then tip into your pan and press.

This is not the kind of dough that comes together into one big ball and you can roll it out. There are shortbread recipes where you can do that, but this is not the one. I have made and eaten many different types of shortbread, and this short, crumbly version is mine and my family’s absolute favourite.

It will stick together and form lumps, but not one huge lump. You have to mix through the crumb stage, add in the lemon juice and continue to mix all the way to when it starts to form big lumps of dough. There’s a fine line with most things and this lemon shortbread toes the line between so crumbly it will fall apart and super sticky dough that clumps together.

In other words, it’s Goldilocks shortbread! 😉

Best Ever Lemon Shortbread

Annie N

This crumbly, zesty Lemon Shortbread is so easy to make and ready in under an hour. My family can't get enough of this delicious shortbread and the white chocolate drizzle is the cherry on the top!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Total Time 55 minutes mins

Servings 8

Ingredients

  

• 1 1/2 sticks (170g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups (210g) plain flour
• Zest of 1 large lemon
• 1/2 cup (100g) caster/white sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour/cornstarch
• 1- 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• Granulated sugar, to sprinkle on top, optional
• 2 oz (56g) white chocolate, melted and poured into a small Ziploc bag

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 160C/325F and spray an 8 inch round fluted pan with cooking spray. I use Wilton Bake Easy. You can also make this in an 8x8 inch square pan.
• Place butter, flour, lemon zest, sugar and cornflour into a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer and beat on medium-high speed until you have a coarse breadcrumb texture.
• Add in 1tbsp lemon juice and continue to mix on a medium speed. Now the dough will go through several phases. It will go into small, floury pieces, then go into larger lumps, then finally it will start to ball up into large golf sized ball pieces of dough. Stop mixing at this stage.
• If your mixture won't ball up, add in a little more lemon juice, be careful of adding too much though, this dough is meant to be crumbly, not smooth and sticky in one large lump of dough.
• Tip the dough into your prepared pan and press into an even layer. I use the base of a cup sprayed with cooking spray.
• Score the dough into 8 wedges. I go halfway down, halfway across and then both ways diagonally. 
• Use a fork to make holes in each wedge of shortbread, almost all the way through to the bottom.
• Place in the oven for 45-50 minutes, until ever so lightly golden around the edges and it feels firm and set to the touch. It will also look matte in the light of the oven.
• Leave to cool for 10 minutes before going over your scored lines with a sharp knife and cutting the shortbread into wedges. It's much easier to cut when warm, so don't leave it too long!
• Sprinkle granulated sugar over the shortbread, if you want to (I didn't this time) and transfer to a wire rack very gently using a spatula. Leave to cool completely before snipping one corner off of the chocolate filled Ziploc bag and drizzling white chocolate over each wedge of shortbread.
• Lemon Shortbread will keep in an airtight container, at room temperature, for 5 days.

I link up at these great Link Parties!