Ready, set, bake!
If you’re getting ready for a new season of the popular “Great British Baking Show,” you’ll need some sustenance to get you through all those mouthwatering showstopper challenges. You can’t watch all that buttery action without wanting to play along from home.
This recipe for sweet, nutty shortbread cookies comes from Amos Lilley, a contestant on the 2023 season of the Great British Baking Show.
“I remember reaching for the shortbreads as a cheeky little boy and being warned not to spoil my dinner,” Lilley writes. Find the recipe in The Great British Baking Show’s “Kitchen Classics: Signature Bakes from the Heart of the Home with Recipes by Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith and The Bakers” (Mobius, $35).
White Chocolate, Pistachio and Cranberry Shortbread Cookies
Makes 32
INGREDIENTS
125 g unsalted pistachios
225 g unsalted butter, cubed and softened
115 g granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
340 g plain flour
100 g dried cranberries, chopped into small pieces
100g white chocolate, chopped into 5 mm-1 cm pieces
To decorate
180 g white chocolate, chopped
25g pistachios, finely chopped
“Kitchen Classics: Signature bakes from the heart of the home” (Mobius, $35) with recipes by Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith and the bakers is the Great British Baking Show’s 2023 season cookbook and contains 80 recipes. (Courtesy Ant Duncan/Mobius)
DIRECTIONS
Toast the pistachios: Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Tip the pistachios into a baking tray and toast them in the oven for 4 to 5 minutes, until slightly golden. Turn the oven off for the time being. Leave the pistachios to cool, then roughly chop.
Make the dough: Beat the butter, sugar and salt in a stand mixer, fitted with the beater, on medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the inside of the bowl from time to time, until smooth and creamy.
Sift in the flour and mix on a low speed until just incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and mix for a further 30 seconds, until the dough just starts to come together. Add the pistachios, cranberries and white chocolate and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined, and the mixture clumps together.
Tip the dough onto a large sheet of parchment paper and place another sheet on top. Using your hands, flatten the dough into a disc, then switch to a rolling pin and roll the dough until it is 1cm thick.
Stamp out the shortbreads: Peel off the top sheet of parchment paper and, using a cutter, stamp out as many shortbread discs as you can. Place the discs on the lined baking sheets, leaving space between each one to allow for spreading during baking. Gather what’s left into a ball, re-roll and stamp out more discs. You should get about 32 in total. Prick the shortbreads with a fork and chill for 20 minutes to firm up. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 340 degrees.
Bake the shortbreads. Transfer the baking sheets to the oven and bake the shortbreads for 20 to 25 minutes, until light golden. Leave to cool on the tray for 2 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
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Decorate the shortbreads: Melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl either in the microwave in 30-second bursts or over a pan of gently simmering water. Stir the chocolate until smooth and remove from the heat. Dip half of each cooled shortbread into the melted chocolate to coat. Place on a clean sheet of baking paper, scatter the chopped pistachios over the chocolate and leave to set before serving. The shortbreads will store for up to 3 days in an airtight box.
— Courtesy “The Great British Baking Show Kitchen Classics: Signature Bakes from the Heart of the Home with Recipes by Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith & The Bakers” (Mobius, $35)