The flavour combo of lemon and poppyseed can be found all over the internet in loaves, cakes, muffins and breads, but why is it? Apparently it’s the earthy, fruity and nutty flavours of the poppyseeds that pair perfectly with the bitterness of lemons and the sweetness of baking.
With the web already full of lemon and poppyseed recipes, I felt it necessary to add one more, but in biscuit form. So let me introduce my Lemon and Poppyseed Shortbread.
Not only is this shortbread buttery, it also has the zing of lemon and the earthy spice of poppyseed. Now if you ask me what another flavour that pairs well with lemon and poppyseed, it would have to be cream cheese. So for this Lemon and Poppyseed Shortbread, I’ve also topped it off with a smooth lemon cream cheese frosting. You’re welcome!
- 280g Plain Flour
- 80g Icing Sugar
- 240g Butter – Room Temperature
- 1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
- 2 Tablespoon Poppyseeds
- Zest of 2 Medium Sized Lemons
- 30g Butter – Room Temperature
- 100g Cream Cheese
- 200g Icing Sugar
- 1-2 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
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To make the shortbread, beat the butter and icing sugar together in a medium sized bowl with a hand-held beater until pale and fluffy.
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Add in the zest of 2 lemons, along with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and continue to beat for another minute until incorporated.
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Sift the flour and add this to the butter mixture along with the poppyseeds, then fold through until a dough comes together. Wrap the dough in cling film, flatten slightly and chill in the fridge for 30-40 minutes.
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Now preheat your oven to 180°c bake and line a baking tray with grease-proof paper, then set aside.
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Once the dough has chilled and the oven is up to temperature, turn dough out onto a flour surface and using a rolling pin, roll dough to 1cm thick. Cut into desired shapes using a knife or cooking cutter.
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Place shapes onto prepared baking tray and bake for around 15 minutes or until the edges are sightly golden in colour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before moving to a cooling rack to cool completly.
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To make the frosting, beat together the butter and cream cheese until pale and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add in the icing sugar and continue to beat for another few minutes.
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Finally, add a small bit of lemon juice at a time until the desired consistency has been reached. Then pipe, blob, of cover the top of your shortbread with a smooth layer of frosting.
Flashback!
When I created this recipe back in 2016, it was super delicious, however there was one messy problem. The recipe suggested sandwiching 2 biscuits together, with the frosting in the middle. Now the problem was that when you tried to bite into this cookie sandwich, the frosting would very quickly squish out the sides. So when making this recipe, I no longer sandwiched the biscuits together and simply put the frosting on top, problem solved. It then took me over 5 years to revisit, rewrite the recipe (without sandwiching the biscuits together) and reshoot some photos. So the photos you see above are the original and only photos I took of the Lemon and Poppyseed Shortbread back in 2016. I guess good things come to those who wait!
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