Cranberry Shortbread Hearts Recipe

Duh - why I failed to include this in the last post I'll never know...

Cranberry Shortbread Hearts

125 grams unsalted butter
1/2 cup castor sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg (beaten)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 3/4 cups plain flour (sifted)
150 grams dried cranberries (sweetened is OK)


Pre-heat oven to 180 C.

Cream sugar and butter. Add egg, then vanilla and salt, mixing thoroughly.

Blend in flour slowly. Try not to over mix. When smooth consistency, stir in cranberries.

Form dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap (or divide in to 2 or 3 lots for ease of handling) and chill for at least an hour.

Roll out on to a floured surface (or between two baking sheets) till about 4mm thick. Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter (press really firmly and use a METAL cutter to ensure you slice through the fruit - or otherwise deal with the misshapen mess that ensues).

Place biscuits on lined baking trays, and cook for 10 - 15 minutes or until they just colour at edges).



Notes:

I have no idea where I got this recipe - it seems like a pretty standard shortbread ratio. My creativity solely extended to adding the cranberries. Woot.

Given that we are now post - V.D. you could lose the heart shape action.

The half dough I had remaining in the fridge, I could not deal with rolling/cutting etc (bad arm day). So I just sliced the homogenised mass thinly crossways (a la biscotti or almond bread) and cooked till there was the merest colour at the corners. Alternatively you could just form the dough into a log shape before chilling, and then cut into nice rounds when cold. This will however mess with the whole Phillipa's aesthetic as the cranberries will be sliced not rolled. Yes, perfectionism is a curse.

These might also be nice dusted with caster sugar before baking, or pure icing sugar when cold. These aren't as light as I'd hoped. So I reserve the right to tweak or abandon the recipe as is my whim.

As noted before - the cranberries I used became a little hard after baking, so really could have been soaked beforehand. In water? apple juice? Verjuice? (yes Maggie Beer got to me too). But DO make sure you do strain well - any extra water could mess with the dough, cause shrinkage or any number of other possible worldly disasters.