strawberry shortbread
The inspiration for these came from my time as a pastry chef in a gelato shop, we made a vegan version and the offcuts were the best midmorning snacks . They’re very simple and quick to make, I used store bought jam, and my favourite shortbread recipe.
Shortbread
450g flour
150g sugar
300g butter, cold, cubed
1/2cup strawberry jam (or whatever jam you like)
Preheat the oven to 325F. Line a 9x9 baking tray with parchment paper.
Stir together the flour and sugar in a large bowl, then add the cubed butter. Using your finger tips rub the butter into the flour to create a bread crumb mixture. This tends to take some time and makes your fingers a little tired, but it’s helping to build the structure of the shortbread.
Once you have a fine breadcrumb texture that is starting to clump together, set aside roughly 1/3 of the dough. With the remaining dough press it into the prepared baking tray using your fingers, then use the back of a spoon, or a small cup, just something flat that you can use to compact it and make a smoothish top.
Spread an even layer of the jam onto the shortbread base (you might need a little more or less jam).
Using the dough we set aside earlier crumble it on top of the jam layer to create big and small chunks this will create the crumbly layer, try to cover the whole surface but, you still want some of the jam peaking through
Bake for 20-30 minutes until the top starts to go golden and the jam looks matte.
Allow to cool, then slice and enjoy :)
