Sooo with my tastebuds yelling for lemon and my head yelling for a simpler recipe, I bargained with myself to settle on a lower price: lemon-poppy shortbread! Shortbreads always been a favorite of mine... too much so, to be sure. And oooh, this turned out divinely. The kitchen, however, did not survive the massacre. Why do recipe books make things look so clean and easy? Try it yourself, punk:
1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
1/3 cup cornflour (such an excellent tip ripped off Joy of Cooking!)
1/4 cup of icing sugar
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
3/4 cup of softened unsalted butter (mmmm buttttter.)
2 tsp lemon zest (I just used the zest of a whole lemon)
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
(makes approximately 24; nutrition?: good for the sooooul...)
Preheat the oven to 300F. Mix the flour, cornflour and poppy seeds together (I would sift on hindsight, might make it lighter!) and add the two sugars. Scrape the lemon onto the softened butter and cut in both into the flour (sounds much cleaner than ever... use a knife to cut in, it's easier). Keep cutting (I gave up shortly and moved to my hands) until the mixture sticks slightly together. Then, roll up your sleeves, clear a wiiiide space and start gently kneading the dough by gently pressing the sides together (don't overwork it... your biscuits have to be light and crisp!). Then, roll the dough out with a floured rolling pin on a floured surface until it's approximately 1.5 inches thick and then cookie-cut it out (or use a glass as I did!). Put them about an inch apart on ungreased parchment paper on a cookie tray and shove into the oven for about 30 minutes (should be light brown top and bottom). Let it cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes (you want it crisp, remember?) before diving in!
Eeeeettt VOILA! Supaz simple, supaz fast and supaz nom nom... but my kitchen did not turn out supaz clean. Oh well. More flour on me than in the bowl. Then again, a messy kitchen adds a certain j'n'sais'quoi to cooking...
Yours,
The Baker's Apprentice.
PS:
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