Since Kevin and I have been going to Se7en Bites, a local bakery, so much lately I’ve become addicted to their shortbread. They make a lavender vanilla shortbread that’s one of the best baked goods I’ve ever tried. Really. So to continue my shortbread kick I decided to make my own version using some fresh citrus. The results are a rich, buttery shortbread that’s loaded with bursts of citrus.
You may have seen on Instagram last week that my first batch didn’t come out. It was bad. The dough was much too soft and it spread way too much causing my cute ice cream cone cut out cookies to look more like round blobs. So I baked a second batch, this time using the cold butter pieces and following the same process as I did for my red velvet shortbread cookies. And this time it was a success!
Citrus Shortbread Cookies
adapted from The Fresh Exchange
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of cayenne pepper
2 sticks of cold butter, cut into small pieces
zest of one lime and one orange (I love using a Microplane)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
1. In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar and cayenne pepper a few times. Then add the cut up butter, citrus zest and vanilla. Pulse until a dough forms. It will first look like corse meal, then will form into a dough.
2. Place the dough onto a floured countertop and roll it out until it’s about 1/2″ thick. Then use a small cookie cutter to cut out the dough (I used a 2″ round cookie cutter). Place the cut out dough on a parchment or ail-pat lined baking sheet.
4. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Meanwhile, place the entire baking tray in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Then bake in the preheated oven for around 25 minutes, or until the cookies look firm and slightly golden. Allow them to cool completely on a rack before adding the icing drizzle.
5. To make the icing, whisk together the powdered sugar, light corn syrup, and water in a small bowl. Place the mixture in a disposable piping bag or a large Ziploc bag. Cut the tip of the bag with scissors and drizzle the icing over the cookies. It’s best to have the cookies on a drying rack with a piece of wax paper underneath while you do this so clean-up is really easy. Allow the icing to harden, about 20 minutes then enjoy!