The dough for this easy Christmas biscuit recipe can be made in a food processor. Keep cooled shortbreads in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. If painted with chocolate, use parchment to separate the biscuit layers.
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Yields:
22 serving(s)
Prep Time:
25 mins
Cook Time:
50 mins
Total Time:
1 hr 15 mins
Cal/Serv:
184
Ingredients
200g
(7oz) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
125g
(4oz) icing sugar
300g
(11oz) plain flour
2tsp.
vanilla extract
50g
(2oz) dried cranberries, finely chopped
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
To finish, optional
150g
(5oz) white chocolate, chopped
edible sprinkles
Directions
Step 1
Line a 20.5cm (8in) square tin with baking parchment and set aside. In a food processor, whiz the butter, sugar, flour and a pinch of salt until the mixture just clumps together. Add the vanilla, cranberries and lemon zest and pulse to combine.
Step 2
Press mixture into the prepared tin and level (using your hands or the back of a metal spoon is easiest). Prick dough well with a fork, then chill for 30min.
Step 3
Preheat oven to 170°C (150°C fan) mark 3. Bake the shortbread for 45-50min or until nicely golden.
Step 4
While it’s still warm, cut the shortbread in half across the middle. Then cut each half into fingers 1.5cm (2/3in) wide. Cool completely in tin.
Step 5
If finishing the biscuits with chocolate, line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Using a pastry brush, paint chocolate on one end of each shortbread finger, then arrange on prepared baking sheet. Decorate with sprinkles and leave to set, or chill for 15min.
To store: Keep cooled shortbreads in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. If painted with chocolate, use parchment to separate the biscuit layers.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
