These orange and almond shortbread biscuits have a delicious light and crumbly texture. Perfect to enjoy as a morning or afternoon treat, they also make fabulous biscuits to serve with creamy desserts.
When I posted my Blood Orange Posset recipe a little while back I promised I would also share my recipe for the pretty heart-shaped biscuits that I served with them. So true to my word, here is my recipe for orange and almond shortbread biscuits.
They are simple to make, based on a traditional shortbread biscuit, but I have substituted some of the flour with ground almonds and flavoured the dough with some orange zest. Lemon zest can be used for a delicious variation.
In addition to the heart shape cookies I made to go with the posset, I made some pretty flower shape cookies, but feel to make them in whatever shape you like. A light dusting of icing sugar is entirely optional.
cream butter and sugar together. add flour almond and orange zest. Mix to a dough and chill. Roll out and cut out biscuits. Transfer to a baking sheet and chill before baking. Bake until golden. Dust with icing sugar
Cooks Tip's
- Lightly flour the work surface before rolling but try not to use too much.
- Handle the dough gently when rolling out to prevent the dough from stretching.
- Trimmings can be gently kneaded into a ball for re-rolling again handle gently or the biscuits will become tough.
- Chill the dough if it becomes too soft to roll.
- Chilling the biscuits before baking will help them to keep their shape during baking.
Orange and Almond Shortbread
Ingredients
- 100 g butter softened
- 50 g caster sugar
- 1 orange , finely grated zest
- 100 g plain flour (all purpose)
- 50 g ground almonds
- icing sugar, to sprinkle , optional
Instructions
- Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then beat in the orange zest.
- Add the flour and ground almonds and mix to a soft dough. Chill for 15 minutes.
- Roll out the dough to about 3mm (⅛th in) thick and cut out the biscuits. Carefully transfer to a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Chill for another 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 170℃ (160℃ fan)/375°F/gas mark 4.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 12-15 minutes until pale golden. Allow to cool and harden for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Dust with icing sugar if desired.
Carm M says
Would this dough be good for rolling pins that are embossed?
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
I have not tried but i think it should work quite well.
Martin says
Hi,can you freeze them. Thanks
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Yes they will freeze well for up to 3 months.
Linda Johnson says
Delicious recipe! Can you think of any reason why it wouldn't work if cooked in a tin and then cut into squares/shapes? Thank you!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
I've not tried it but yes I'm sure it would work. I would cut them before the shortbread has cooled as otherwise I think it would break rather than cut into neat squares.
Elizabeth says
Ok so I followed all the instructions but my dough was so sticky I couldn’t roll it at all. Floured the worktop and rolling pin still no. So dolloped on tray, attempted to flatten the dollops and put in oven. Baked for half an hour and they came out great. But not at all how I’d imagined!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
The most likely reason it was too sticky was the butter was too warm. Popping it in the fridge to chill a little longer should solve that problem next time.
Andrea says
Mmm these were lovely, was looking for a simple receipe for my 11 year old to make with what we already had in, in the cupboard. We made orange flavour icing to top them off.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
So pleased you liked them I bet they tasted extra delicious with the orange icing. What a treat.
Corina Blum says
These sound delicious! I think orange and almond is such a lovely combination and the biscuits look absolutely perfectly baked too!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Thank you Corina I do love a good shortbread biscuit 🙂
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain says
How utterly delicious Jacqui. I'm a huge fan of shortbread biscuits - their buttery crumbly melt in the mouth qualities is just so good. Love the use of the orange zest and almond in them. Thankyou too for linking up with #BakingCrumbs, it's always lovely to have you there.
Angela
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Always a pleasure to link up Angela.