No. 1 — Pink Himalayan Salt
Sublime Lemon & Thyme Shortbread
There's no Great British afternoon tea worth having without a side-dose of shortbread. Use a 5-6cm smooth cutter; a ridged cutter is wholly unsophististicated. Also: Do not over-knead the dough; your hands should facilitate the shaping process, nothing more. The "bread" in "shortbread" is a misnomer. Lastly, ensure you chill your rounds in the fridge for 30 minutes before cooking, to resolidify the butter and to help them retain their glorious shape.
Serves 4 | Takes 40 minutes-ish
Ingredients
- 250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 150g Sublime No. 1 Pink Himalayan Salt Butter, cubed and softened
- 100g golden caster sugar
- Grated zest of 4 whole lemons
- Juice of ½ lemon
- A handful of fresh picked thyme leaves
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180˚C, 355˚F or Gas Mark 4. Place a non-stick baking tray (or one lined with baking paper) inside
- Using a stand mixer or electric hand-beater, cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and fluffy – this will likely take two minutes.
- Sift the flour into the butter mixture, along with the lemon zest, juice and thyme leaves
- Beat together until the mixture becomes crumbly and starts resembling a ragged dough. Work it as little as you can get away with for the shortest shortbread in the land.
- At this point, use your heads to press the dough together into a ball
- Lightly dust your work surface with flour, and roll out pieces of dough about 1cm thick
- Use the cookie cutter dusted in flour to stamp out rounds of shortbread
- Use a fork to make little half-height pricks in each shortbread and lay on a sheet of parchment paper, ready to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden around the edges
- Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool and firm up
