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Make Gluten-Free Lemon Curd Shortbread to Support Ukraine!!
Prepare yourself for a sweet lemony taste blast with these buttery citrus shortbreads, sandwiched together with lemon curd.
Making gluten-free shortbread is such a joy. For the occasional treat, it is so surreal to bite into a crisp, butter-rich biscuit infused with citrus notes to accompany a perfectly brewed tea. Taking it another level higher, adding some lemon curd between two lemon shortbread biscuits is seriously lemony-exciting and delicious!!
How do these shortbreads help Ukraine?
I was inspired to make these lemon curd shortbreads when I came across a company in Poland online called Pastrymade®. This small business makes at least 100 different types of engraved rolling pins specifically to give an embossed design on cookie/biscuit dough.
Click here to view a short video of one of their rolling pins in action
Pastrymade® employs and trains Ukrainians within their community, plus gives a proceed of the profits to help Ukrainian families settle in Poland. I chose the “Stand with Ukraine” rolling pin, which has a sunflower design, Ukraine’s national flower.
Their website has images of their entire range of rolling pins and is easy to navigate should you wish to order a rolling pin or two online. They deliver worldwide and I was pleased with the quality and price. Do be patient with the delivery time, as it can take several weeks to receive it, due to the unique situation.
Some tips for the perfect shortbread
Use a normal, plain rolling pin to roll out the pastry first.
Make sure the dough has rested and is chilled. If the dough starts to come to room temperature, it may stick to the engraved rolling pin.
Sprinkle flour (tapioca is my favourite as it is light and has a neutral flavour) on the rolling pin and shake off any excess before rolling.
Press down quite firmly as you roll the rolling pin away from you.
Select a 5-cm round or square cookie cutter to cut out each shortbread and use a small spatula to transfer it to a lined baking tray.
Chilling or even freezing the shortbread before baking for 10 to 15 mins helps keep the embossed design on the dough.
Do not add too much baking powder to your recipe or they will over-rise while baking and lose their design.
Either buy or make your own lemon curd to sandwich the shortbreads together. Make sure it is well-chilled beforehand.
Storing these lemon curd shortbread in an airtight tin or container will keep them fresh for at least one week if refrigerated. They taste at their best and are refreshing when eaten chilled.
Gluten-Free Lemon Curd Shortbreads
Equipment
- Stand mixer, or
- Handheld electric beater
- Flower-engraved rolling pin (See blog for rolling pin information)
Ingredients
Gluten-Free Shortbread
- 175 g store-bought or homemade gluten-free plain flour
- ½ tsp xanthan gum
- ½ tsp gluten-free baking powder
- 100 g butter, at room temperature
- 70 g icing sugar, sifted
- ½ lemon, zested
- 1 egg yolk
- ½-1 tsp iced cold water
Extras
- 200 ml store-bought or homemade lemon curd
- tapioca flour, for rolling and cutting out shortbread
- several ice cubes to rub your hands with
Instructions
Gluten-Free Shortbread
Dough preparation
- Using a bench stand mixer or electric handheld beater, beat the butter with the icing sugar and lemon zest until pale and fluffy.
- Add the egg yolk and briefly mix it in.
- Fold the flour, xanthan gum and baking powder into the butter mixture using a spatula.
- Bring the dough together by pressing it into a ball. If it feels too dry, add the iced cold water until it feels soft and keeps together well. If your hands feel warm (or it is a warm day), rub some ice cubes on your hands to keep them chilled. The dough will appreciate the coolness and result in a good shortbread dough.
- Cover and chill for 20 mins.
Rolling out the dough
- Between two sheets of baking paper, place the chilled dough on the bottom sheet and start rolling it out to about 1/2 cm thick.
- Carefully peel away the top sheet of baking paper from the rolled out dough. If it sticks slightly, sprinkle some tapioca flour over the dough and roll gently one or two times with a floured rolling pin to smooth the top.
- Sprinkle the sunflower rolling pin with some tapioca flour and tap the excess off it.
- Starting at the bottom of the dough, press down and slowly roll away from you, pressing as you roll until you have reached the top of the dough.
- Using a 5-cm round cookie cutter, press evenly over each sunflower design on the dough.
- Transfer the cut-out shortbread to a lined baking tray, keeping them 3 cm apart. (They don’t spread while baking).
- To create a hole in the centre of the sunflower embossed shortbread, use the base of an icing nozzle or an apple corer to cut out a small hole in some of the shortbread cut-outs.
Baking
- Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F.
- Bake for 10-12 mins on the middle shelf.
- Allow the baked shortbread to cool on the tray for 5 mins before transferring them to a wire rack to cool down completely.
Assembling
- Place 1 tbsp of cold lemon curd on the plain side of a shortbread biscuit.
- Cover the bottom shortbread biscuit and lemon curd with another shortbread with the design facing upwards. Press gently and place on a tray.
- Chill for a minimum of 30 mins so that the lemon curd stiffens and holds the shortbread together without sliding off.
- Serve lemon shortbread straight from the fridge.
Notes
- Keeps one week chilled in an airtight biscuit tin or container
- Suitable to freeze
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Two of my favourite things, a Fun Without Gluten recipe AND a lemon-based dessert. Lovely time of the year for this, sat outside enjoying these with my friend. Lovely as always
Good to hear your positive feedback, Thanks Patricia!