Pistachio And Orange Blossom Water Shortbreads

I was never a great fan of shortbread till I met Mr P.  His eldest sister (he has 4!) makes the most wonderful, buttery, light as air shortbreads you will ever eat.  Unadorned, beautiful shortbread.  I paused when I saw this recipe which has orange blossom water starring as a flavour.  Reminds me a bit of grandmothers' bathrooms.  Our mate Princess Pia laughed when I said it smells like toilet water - as in, the scent that ladies splash on themselves, not your actual toilet water :-)

This is a recipe by Peter Gordon, the New Zealand chef who has recently moved back to NZ during Covid.  (From his book Peter Gordon a culinary journey.)  After living in the UK for 20 years, he sold his London restaurants to start up again in his home country.  Mm, I seem to have a bit of a thing going with New Zealand at the moment, don't I?  It really IS a fabulous place to visit, and I'd love to live there for a while.  And they have the wondrous Jacinda Ardern for Prime Minister.  Sooooo jelly!

so cute, so delicious

Makes 21 biscuits (tho Peter says 24-30!):

ingredients:

125g./4.5 oz butter, softened (not melted)

100g./3.5 oz caster sugar (I used raw)

1 egg yolk

30 mL/2 U.S. tbs of orange blossom water (or rosewater - my idea)

80g./3 oz ground pistachios (I zapped 'em in the food processor)

200g./7 oz plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

a pinch of sea salt

2 tsp orange zest (my idea)

extra sugar for sprinkling on top

Method:

Cream the butter and sugar together briefly with electric beaters - don't go crazy; Peter says you don't want too much air

Beat in the egg yolk, then gently beat in the orange blossom water and the nuts

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the mixture, and stir till nicely incorporated 

Pat the dough into a nice lump, whack on the cling wrap, flatten slightly and stick in the fridge for an hour to chill down

Then - turn your oven to 180C/360F to warm up

Cut the dough in half, roll out one piece between 2 sheets of baking paper till it's 1/2 cm./0.2 in thick

Make shapes with a biscuit cutter or whatever you fancy, place on a lined baking tray then do the same with the other half of the dough

Prick them with a fork (I forgot to do this!), sprinkle on the sugar and zest and bake - the recipe says 12-18 minutes; mine took 16 mins. - till they start to go golden

Let them cool on the trays for 10 minutes, then place them on wire racks to get cold

Keep in an airtight container for up to a week

grind your nuts - can you even buy 'em already ground??

add the ground nuts to the creamed butter and sugar

wrap in clingfilm, and refrigerate for an hour

cut the chilled dough in half

place the shortbreads on lined trays

a wee bit puffed up 'cos I forgot to prick 'em :-)

sweet, airy, light shortbreads

© Sherry M.