Recipe taken from The
Pig: Tales and Recipes
From the Kitchen
Garden and Beyond ,
published by Octopus
Publishing (HB £30),
by Robin Hutson,
Gill Morgan, Paul
Croughton and
The Pig team. Image
by Emli Bendixen.48 baking heaven OCTOBER WWW.FOODHEAVENMAG.COM
Lavender shortbread
MAKES ABOUT 25
225g (8oz) butter
125g (4½oz) sugar
125g (4½oz) cornflour
270g (9½oz) strong flour
For the lavender sugar
buds from 150g (5oz) fresh
lavender sprigs
500g (1lb 2oz) caster sugar1 To make the lavender sugar (it should
be made at least 1 day in advance), put
the picked buds in a Kilner or jam jar. Fill
the jar almost to the top with sugar, seal
tightly and shake well.
2 Leave to infuse for 24 hours. The
amounts listed make more than you will
need for this recipe, but the sugar will
keep for months and is a brilliant topping
for strawberries.
3 To make the shortbread, combine the
butter, sugar, cornflour and strong flour
in the bowl of a food mixer or processor
with a paddle attachment and beat until
you have the consistency of fine
breadcrumbs. Remove the bowl from
the machine and use your hands to form
a dough.
4 Leave the dough in the bowl and chill
in the refrigerator for 5 minutes, then
turn out onto a cool work surface and
finish binding together by hand. Roll it
out to a thickness of 5mm (¼in) and cut
into your desired shape. Place the
biscuits on a baking tray lined with
baking parchment and chill for
10-15 minutes.
5 Preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas Mark
3½. Bake the biscuits for 12-14 minutes,
removing them before they take on
any colour.
6 Finally, sprinkle with lavender sugar
and allow to cool completely before
handling. The biscuits will keep for
a couple of days in an air tight container,
but they’re fragile, so layer them
between greaseproof paper and and no
more than a couple of layers thick.A^ ni
ce^ lit
tle^ treat
with
coff
ee^ or^tea!