Description
This Melt in Your Mouth Semolina Shortbread is buttery, lightly sweet, and wonderfully crumbly, with semolina giving it that slightly sandy texture that makes it different from ordinary shortbread. It’s a small batch, so it’s just right for a tin of biscuits or a little afternoon treat, although doubling it works beautifully too.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 125 g butter, softened
- 75 g Self-Raising flour
- 125 g semolina
- 60 g castor sugar
- Icing sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350⁰F (180⁰C).
- Grease a 20 cm round cake tin well. A tin with a removable base is handy, but it isn’t essential.
- Sift 75 g Self-Raising flour into a mixing bowl.
- Add 125 g semolina and 60 g castor sugar, then give everything a good stir so the semolina and sugar are evenly distributed.
- Add 125 g softened butter and rub it into the flour and semolina mixture with your fingertips until it looks crumbly. Keep going until there aren’t big lumps of butter left.
- Gently knead the mixture just until it forms a soft dough. Don’t overwork it. It may look a little crumbly at first, but it should come together when pressed.
- Tip the dough into the greased 20 cm round tin and press it out evenly with your fingertips.
- Try to keep the thickness fairly even so the middle and edges bake at the same rate.
- Use a fork to prick the surface all over. Press the edges with your thumb to give the shortbread a simple, homemade finish.
- If you like, score the dough lightly into 8 to 10 wedges before baking. Don’t cut all the way through.
- Bake at 350⁰F (180⁰C) for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the shortbread is lightly golden, especially around the edges.
- Let the shortbread sit for about 5 minutes, then cut through the scored lines while it’s still warm.
- It will be much harder to cut neatly once it has cooled completely.
- Leave the wedges in the tin until completely cool. They’ll firm up as they cool, so don’t worry if they seem a little delicate when first cut.
- Once completely cool, dust lightly with icing sugar. That’s it. Simple, buttery and very good with a cup of tea.
- For a larger batch, double everything and use a larger tin rather than making the shortbread too thick in the 20 cm tin.
Notes
Prepared, tried, and tested by Rashida
