Almond Rosewater Shortbread

Today was full on in the most relaxing sort of way. We (my running partner, and niece) went for another walk down Barrett’s Lane and had a chat to the lady on the corner who’s chickens keep laying eggs in hidey holes around the garden. I’m thinking a midnight raid might uncover a secret cache of dozens of eggs since she can’t find where they are hiding them. Of course, I wouldn’t! We played spot nature things on the walk back and I made it to 20 as a calf followed us half the way. We (with my niece, not just my running partner and I!) played Bertie the Beetle and each of us made up the rules in turn…which I didn’t win just as an fyi. A stray dog ran into the house terrified when the thunderstorm hit and we spent the next 1.5 hours looking for it’s owner knocking on doors and traipsing up and down the main street of town enquiring at all the main shops…the pub, the cafe… and came back home before venturing to the post office and pie shop. Okay, that’s all the shops there are in this town. The dog took a liking to my running partner and followed him around so obediently we started planning on a new addition to the household. Fortunately once the storm was over and he was well rested he took off home! Water aerobics at the local pool was canceled due to the aforementioned storm and in between I made almond rosewater shortbread. Which is the subject of this post. So, I adulterated the recipe which wasn’t the traditional kourabiedes recipe anyway but rather a simplified version…without the alcohol. And I used high fibre flour and coconut flour instead of plain flour. And they came up a treat. Since they passed my 2 year old nephews taste test I figure they must be good! ‘So, here’s the recipe from taste.com, with my substitutions:

Ingredients:

180gm soft butter

3/4 cup icing sugar mixture

100gm almond meal

3/4 cup plain flour (here I substituted for half high fibre plain flour and half coconut flour which is easier to digest and mighty tasty!)

1/4 cup rice flour

1/4 tsp ground cloves

rosewater

extra icing sugar to dust biscuits

Method:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 160 degrees. Line baking trays with baking paper or brush with melted butter to lightly grease. Use an electric beater to beat together the butter and icing sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the almond meal and sift the other flours and ground cloves into the bowl. Stir until well combined.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 2: Use your hands to roll heaped tablespoonsful of mixture into logs and shape into crescents by pressing finger into the side and place on prepared trays, about 3cm apart.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3: Bake in preheated oven on shelves 2 and 4, swapping trays halfway through cooking, for 18-20 minutes or until cooked through and lightly golden. Remove from oven.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 4: Set aside on trays to cool and firm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 5: Brush shortbreads with rosewater and dust heavily with icing sugar, turning to evenly coat in the sugar. Set aside for a further 30 minutes or until completely cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 6: And then eat with a cup of tea…I’m making chai!