Makes 90 1-inch cookie squares, feel free to make half the recipe as this makes loads. That said the cookies sans chocolate drizzle can be made and frozen for up to a month.
This is one of those recipes that should come with a warning label – ‘looks unassuming, but is insanely moorish’. It is the combination of loads of good things, namely, butter, lemon, poppy seeds, and white chocolate. On their own they are each ok, but brought together they sing!
I was reminded recently that finding kosher products in the UK isn’t as easy as in the US or Israel, that you need to know what you are looking for. There is the KLBD logo on some foods, but many don’t have them, so the best way – short of taking me shopping with you, is to download the app IS IT KOSHER.UK As the world starts opening up again, I hope loads more people will have an opportunity to use it.
In this recipe we are celebrating a few of my favorite British kosher products:
Cornish Sea Salt: Salt All plain, sea and mineral salt is permitted. Butter All pure butter is permitted. Flour & Bread Mixes All types of plain, self raising and bread flour are permitted. Bread mixes are not permitted as they often contain problematic emulsifiers. ‘Seed & Bean’ All Products *Only certified when bearing the KLBD logo. Products without the logo are not approved
- 250g (2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 60g (1/2 cup) icing (powdered) sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- finely grated zest of one large lemon
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 225g (1 cup) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 200g high-quality white chocolate (we used Seed & Bean Lemon Poppy Seed white chocolate bar), finely chopped
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Heat oven to 160℃ (325°F). Line 2 cookie sheets with baking paper and set aside.
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Blend flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl or in the bowl of a food processor. Add butter, lemon peel, poppy seeds and vanilla; rub the flour into the butter until you have a wet sand type consistency, or process just until blended and dough forms clumps. Tip out of the bowl and press together until you have a uniform dough and all the butter is evenly distributed.
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Between 2 sheets of very lightly, floured baking paper roll out the dough to about ½ cm (¼ inch thickness) — you don’t want the cookies to be too thin. Using a cookie cutter, punch out small shapes and place them on lined cookie sheets. Use all the dough, re-rolling the scraps so you shouldn’t have any leftover dough.
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If your dough gets too warm to handle, pop in the fridge for 5 minutes and start again.
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Bake shortbread until golden brown, crisp around edges, and firm to touch about 12-15 minutes. Cool completely.
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Place white chocolate in a small microwave-safe bowl, or in a medium sealable bag. Microwave on 20-second bursts, until the chocolate is smooth and pourable. Using a fork, drizzle melted chocolate in a zigzag pattern over shortbread, or snip the end of the bag and use it as a piping bag to drizzle the top of the shortbread. Let stand until chocolate sets, about 1 hour.
