It’s officially mid March and I have no idea how it happened. Almost Easter people!! But just before that it’s Mother’s Day and I’m feeling all sentimental about the main lady in my life. While I’m not the biggest fan of the commercial side of Mother’s Day, I do think it can be a great time to stop and give thanks when you’re lucky enough to be able to so. And I am so very lucky to have a strong, brilliant, beautiful mum – who loves a sweet treat.
I ummed and ahhhed about what to make this year, but then when I spotted Nurtured in Norfolk’s edible flowers I new I had to make these melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookies, inspired by Loria Stern‘s masterpieces and other beautiful creations on Pinterest. I mean just at them!! The flowers were kindly gifted as part of their Mother’s Day promotions and this is the first recipe of two I’ll be creating with them. Check back on the blog soon for the second *hint layer cake hint*.
Gluten free, FODMAP friendly and almost too pretty to eat (but not quite) – edible flowers are simple addition to these shortbread cookies and easy way to make them look as good as they taste. I’ll be heading home at the end of March to see my mum and my nan (my sis is away travelling in Europe!) and I’ll be sure to have a full tin of these stashed in my bag.
Recipe notes:
For a twist, try replacing the lemon zest with orange or grapefruit zest
The dough can be frozen for up to 6 weeks. To use, remove from the freezer and allow to thaw for one hour at room temperature so that it’s soft enough to roll out
Ingredients
325g gluten free plain flour (I used FREEE by Doves Farm)
1 teaspoon sea salt
200g butter, chilled and cut into cubes
125g golden caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large free range egg yolks
Zest of 1 lemon
Edible flowers, washed
Method
Tip the flour into a food processor, then add the salt and whizz to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, vanilla, egg yolks and lemon zest and pulse again until you create a smooth dough. Trying to touch the dough as little as possible, bring it together into a disc, wrap in cling film and chill for at least 1 hour.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 180C/gas 4/fan 160C and lightly grease 2 large baking sheets. Place the dough onto a lightly (gluten-free) floured surface and roll out to a generous 5mm/¼in thick. Using a circle cookie cutter, cut out as many circles as you can, before pressing an edible flower or two in the middle of each one. Arrange the cookies on the greased baking sheets, spacing the biscuits slightly apart so they have a bit of room to spread as they cook.
Bake for 20 minutes until the biscuits are just turning pale golden around the edges, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Scoop up any remaining dough and repeat the process again. The biscuits will keep fresh for up to 5 days stored in an airtight tin.
I love seeing what you guys have created – so if you make this recipe (or any other from this site) please take a photograph and tag me @shecanteatwhat or with #shecanteatwhat and #fodmapfriendlykitchen on social!
