Lemon is lovely.

I don't make these lovely lemon shortbreads all the time, and let me tell you why....because I would EAT THEM ALL!  I have found in these darlings, the perfect shortbread: not so crumbly that you choke on the dust that hits the back of your throat, and not so buttery that you find yourself needing a chisel to get it off the roof of your mouth.  Even more of a testament to how good these are is the statement made by my wonderful friend, Tara, when she received these in her Christmas goody box: "I don't like shortbread.  I gave them to Leah (her sister) and she made me try one.  They are so good!"
Ok, well I've paraphrased but I'm sure Tara will back me up when I say, that was the general gist of it.  In short, even if you don't think you like shortbread, make these!!!

I believe that this recipe was originally from a Women's Weekly cookbook (probably the one of the many I have stolen from my mother, but possession is nine-tenths of the law, no?).  I have done a little tweaking over the years to get this just right so I cannot attest to how closely this resembles the original recipe.  Nevertheless, this shortbread is insanely wonderful and not even remotely like the old-fashioned fork-pricked triangles seen in old tartan-covered Christmas books of old.  The batter is amazingly soft and velvety, and if you can manage not to eat it all before you get it into the oven, the biscuits are even more so.

Lemon Shortbread

250g unsalted butter, room temperature

1-2 tsp finely grated lemon rind (to taste, really)

55g icing sugar

225g plain flour

75g cornflour

Preheat oven to around 160 degrees and top some baking trays with baking paper.

Beat the butter, sugar and lemon rind with an electric mixer until it changes to a light straw colour.  Next, sift your flours in two batches, mixing to combine in between.  When mixture has come together, place into a piping bag with an open star tip.  Pipe onto the baking tray in whatever manner takes your fancy.  I have done pretty 'bars' but you can also do little rosettes which are quite nice.  Bake for around 15 minutes.  Don't expect the shortbread to brown.  If it does, then they will be overdone.  Once baked, transfer to a baking rack to cool.

Prepare to fall in love.

F. x