Shortbread Flowers

You can't go far wrong with shortbread. The perfect crumbly companion to tea, or any hankering for something a little sweet and satisfying - usually at around 3pm.

In the summer months, adding a zing to lemon to recipes is always a winner - so there is an essence of that in these biscuits.

Plus - pansies (or any other edible flowers you have around - roses, daisies, violets are also perfectly edible!). They don’t add flavour, but they do add colour and beauty which is sometimes missing from your standard shortbread. It is always a pleasure to work with edible flowers, and there are so many around!

This is a super simple recipe, and you most likely have most of these ingredients knocking around already:

128g / 1 cup vegan butter at room temperature (we use Vitalite - but there are plenty of options out there!)

64g / 1/2 cup granulated sugar

256g / 2 cups plain flour

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Zest of one lemon

Fresh edible flowers, we are using pansies - give ‘em a quick clean (removing any bugs / soil) and snip off stems

Place sugar and softened butter into a food processor and pulse until combined, if you don’t have a food processor - good old fashioned bowel, wooden spoon and elbow grease will do!

Gradually add the rest of ingredients and pulse until dough comes together.

Once happy, plonk (technical term) dough out onto a lightly floured surface, use the warmth of your palms to bring it together even more - then cover it up and leave in the fridge for 1-2 hours (closer to 2 hours is best, patience is key).

While your dough is chillin’, get your flowers ready (and play this for a bit of flower prep groove).

Once dirt/bug free and stems removed, place petals on a large sheet of baking paper (don’t worry if they aren’t perfect flowers!), pop another sheet on top, then weigh down with a big ole chopping board and books - leave for a good hour. Top tip is to avoid the white flowers, as they go clear in the heat - which would be a bit of a anti climax, ey?

Preheat your oven to 160C / 325F.

Once your dough is chilled, get your flour out once more and roll out dough to about 1cm thick (let’s be honest, who really measures this?) Cut out your shortbreads (we used these cutters - but the rim of a glass will do!) On a baking tray (covered with baking paper) use a spatula to place shortbreads. When all the dough is used, bake for 10-12 minutes.

Once your 12 minutes is up and they look a little golden, quickly place on a heat resistant surface, get your petals out from under the mountain of books and gently press onto the hot biscuits - we do this as the petals will wilt slightly in the heat and stick nicely to the biscuits.

And there ya have it! Easy peasy biscuits to devour with your next cup of tea.

Made the beautiful biscuits? Send us a snap at @cakeandyogaclub.