FINGER LICKIN' FRIDAY



Lemon, poppyseed and chocolate shortbread

This past week has been absolutely jam-packed with good times. I passed my final subjects at university, worked a lot, ate out very often, and enjoyed some totally awesome times with wonderful friends and family. Busy times have meant that I haven't been doing as much as usual on stylepot. So, I wrote myself a big list of things to do and I'm super excited to get started! I've missed getting into the kitchen, styling my food and sharing the yumminess with all of you!

Speaking of yummy, shortbread is at the top of my love list when it comes to baked treats. To me, the inclusion of anything besides butter and nuts in shortbread is a strange idea, but this one is certainly full of yumminess! The lemon is subtle, the poppy seeds add a certain nuttiness and the white chocolate accompanies the buttery biscuit for extra goodness. This shortbread brings together just the right amount of flakiness and chewiness, and every now and then, a little hint of salt refreshes your tastebuds… Another piece please.



What you'll need:
1/14 cups plain flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
125g butter, chopped into cubes
1 tablespoon poppyseeds
Zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of salt flakes
100g white chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons caster sugar, to sprinkle

What to do:
Preheat the oven to 160C and line the base of a 20cm spring-form cake pan. Grease the sides well.

Place the flour, brown sugar, poppyseeds, lemon zest and juice, butter and salt into a food processor. Whizz up until the dough begins to clump together. Turn out onto a clean work surface and knead until the mixture comes together. Divide in half.

Press one half of the dough across the base of prepared pan and ensure that the surface is relatively even. Spread the chocolate evenly over top. Place the other half of the dough between two sheets of baking paper. Use a rolling pin to roll it out until it is 20cm in diameter, just like the pan. Remove one sheet of paper and flip the dough into the pan, press it down onto the chocolate. Even the surface out as much as possible without allowing any white chocolate to break through. Using the back of a fork, crimp the edges of the shortbread. Sprinkle one tablespoon of caster sugar over the shortbread. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden.

Once golden, remove from oven and sprinkle with the second tablespoon of caster sugar. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from spring-form pan. Serve warm or when cooled. Enjoy!