Knowing there were going to be a few people from the UK, and since I had no baking powder at home (on Sunday, EVERYTHING is closed here!) I decided to go for shortbread. Yum. As I have recently purchased a nice book from Good Food called 101 Cakes and Bakes I decided to give the recipe in there a try. Very nice indeed.

The recipe is actually rather simple, full of butter and sugar, obviously. You will need:

300 grams flour

200 grams butter (creamy, yummy, the best you can find)

100 grams caster sugar

a pinch of salt (I used Himalayan pink salt, but any good salt is ok)

First, you will need to blend the flour and softened butter together, preferably with a food processor. You have to pulse a few times until you get something resembling bread crumbs. You will then mix in the sugar and knead a bit the dough until it all comes together. If you feel it is too dry, you can add a teensy bit of water but be careful because you don’t want it too become too moist.

You then roll it on a lightly floured surface (I just patted it with my hands since I don’t have a pastry rolling pin yet) into a nice 28 cms disc and transfer it in a greased baking pan. You can now make some markings on the disc to help you cut the shortbread after it’s done. I cut it into 16 pieces and pricked it with a fork. Pop it in the oven (preheated to about 140 degrees C) for like 35-40 minutes (watch closely until the edges become light golden brown) and  when it’s done sprinkle some caster sugar on top and a teensy bit of salt.

For those of you wondering what the dark red thing on top is (no, it’s not blood, although I do come from Dracula land): it’s plum jam that I had made a few weeks ago and I just spread on top of the shortbread before sprinkling with sugar.

All in all, people raved about it and after tasting it, I must say it’s really awesome. Easy to make, would probably go amazingly with a cup of tea (yes, I am a tea lover, sorry). Definitely going to make it again.

Scrumptious!