Brown Sugar Macadamia Ghee Shortbreads
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Brown Sugar Macadamia Ghee Shortbreads
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Author:
OMGhee
Servings
20
Prep Time
25 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Calories
122
Did you know that OMGhee is your perfect baking partner? You can substitute ghee for butter in most baked goods, giving a melt-in-your-mouth texture and a hint of caramel. We’ve taken those caramel tones up a notch in these festive one-bowl shortbreads with the addition of brown sugar and crunchy macadamias.
Warning: these are ridiculously delicious!
You can choose to form the dough into logs for the simplest slice and bake shortbreads - or roll it out and use your favourite cookie cutters. Either way, like all shortbread, just remember to chill the dough! It’s what makes the difference between perfect shortbread and dough that’s difficult to wrangle and spreads when baked.
Ingredients
-
100g of OMGhee at room temperature
- 30g golden or regular caster sugar
- 30g brown, coconut or rapadura sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 130g plain unbleached flour, or white spelt flour
- 20g rice flour (we used Mackenzie’s)
- 20g cornflour
- ¼-½ teaspoon fine salt
- 2 teaspoons mixed spice
- 60g raw macadamias, finely chopped
- FOR ROLLING AND SPRINKLING
- 20g raw macadamias, very finely chopped
- 1½ Tablespoons coarse sugar (demerara, coffee crystals or raw sugar)
- ½ teaspoon mixed spice
- Tiny pinch of flaky salt
Directions
Place OMGhee in a medium mixing bowl and beat with electric mixers on high speed until light and fluffy – about 1 minute.
- Add both sugars and vanilla. Beat on high speed for another minute until the sugar is incorporated.
- Sift the plain or white spelt flour, rice flour, cornflour, spice and salt together in a medium bowl. Mix well to distribute ingredients evenly. (We like using ½ teaspoon salt to give that classic sweet and salty shortbread flavour, but you may prefer less.)
- Add the flour mixture to the creamed OMGhee and sugar in two batches, beating on low speed until combined. Fold in the chopped macadamias.
- To make the rolling or sprinkling mixture, combine the extra macadamias, sugar, spice and salt in a small bowl.
For sliced shortbreads, divide the dough in half and shape each into a log about 4cm in diameter. Place each log on a piece of cling wrap and roll in the extra macadamia-sugar mixture. The dough will be soft, so roll gently! Wrap each log firmly in the cling wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight if that’s easier.
For cut-out shortbreads, gather the dough into a ball and place on a piece of cling wrap. Pat the soft dough out to roughly 1cm thickness. Fold over the clingwrap to cover the dough and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight if that’s easier.
- Divide the dough in half and shape each into a log about 4cm in diameter. Place each log on a piece of cling wrap and roll in the extra macadamia-sugar mixture. The dough will be soft, so roll gently! Wrap each log firmly in the cling wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight if that’s easier.
- To bake, heat your oven to 160°C (not fan-forced), and line a large baking sheet with compostable baking paper or a silicone baking mat. Take the chilled dough from the fridge and remove the cling film.
For sliced shortbreads, simply slice each log into approximately 10 x 1cm pieces and place on the baking tray.
For cut-out shortbreads, place between two pieces of baking paper and roll the dough to a smoother 1cm disk. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Sprinkle each shape with the macadamia-sugar mixture and press lightly so it sticks to the dough. Combine the remaining scraps, pat back into a 1cm disc and rechill until firm enough to cut out more shortbreads, sprinkling each with the macadamia-sugar mixture.
- If the dough has become soft after slicing or cutting, pop the baking tray back in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Bake for 14-18 minutes, or until lightly golden and crisp: 16 minutes was the sweet spot for our test oven. The shortbreads will continue to crispen as they cool. Place the whole baking tray on a wire rack until completely cool, before removing the shortbreads. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Recipe Note
For gluten-free shortbreads, simply replace the plain or white spelt flour with an all-purpose gluten-free flour mix that contains xanthan or guar gum, and make sure your rice flour and cornflour is gluten-free.
Make sure you chop the macadamias finely, or it will be difficult to cut the dough.
Bonus when baking with ghee: If you store your OMGhee at room temperature, there’s no need to soften it before baking like you do with butter.
Extra bonus when baking with ghee: To replace butter with OMGhee in most of your baking recipes, simply use 20% less ghee (because, unlike butter, ghee doesn’t contain any water). So, if a recipe asks for 125g butter you would use 100g OMGhee.
Most importantly, don’t forget to chill the dough!
