Orange Butter Biscuits (Orange Shortbread)

These shortbread biscuits have a lovely delicate orange flavour, due to the zest of one orange.

PS: Just a tip for those of you who are biscuit ‘dunkers’ – try these biscuits dunked in a cranberry herbal tea, the cranberry and orange flavours compliment each other beautifully.

Another tip: Shortbread biscuits can be frozen, and will thaw quickly when needed.

Sometime soon I will be posting another shortbread recipe – Lavender Shortbread with Lavender Sugar.

The assembled ingredients for Orange Butter Biscuits:

ORANGE BUTTER BISCUITS

Makes 24 if using a 5cm diameter cutter, and dough rolled out to 1cm thick.

175g unsalted butter, softened but not melted

85g caster sugar

Finely grated zest of one orange

200g plain flour

50g cornflour

¼ teaspoon salt

1. Beat butter and sugar together until smooth and creamy. Beat in orange zest.
2. Sift together plain flour, cornflour and salt. Add to butter mixture and combine gently using hands.
3. Form dough into a disc shape and roll out to 1cm thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut out circles or other shapes.
4. Place cut biscuits on a baking sheet on top of an oven tray, and prick biscuits with a fork.
5. Chill in refrigerator for 15-20 minutes before baking (this helps them keep their shape).
6. Bake at 150 degrees Celsius for 25-30 minutes until lightly coloured.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a rack. When biscuits are cold, store in an airtight container.

Biscuits on the tray, pricked with a fork, chilled, and ready for the oven: