These aromatic spiced gingerbread shortbread cookies make the perfect holiday biscuits. Great for a snack, or for a personalised gift. You can also make and freeze the dough ahead of time, for a quick easy dessert.

Gingerbread shortbread
1 December 2018
Category
Dessert
Serves
12
Preperation Time
10 minutes
Cooking Time
14 minutes
Ingredients
250g unsalted butter softened
100g caster sugar
Juice of half an orange
½ tsp orange zest
250g plain flour
125g rice flour
1 tsp gingerbread spice
Pinch of salt
Instructions
1Add the butter and sugar to a large bowl and cream together using an electric hand mixer till the mixture is light and fluffy. Mix in the orange juice and orange zest
2Then add in the flours, gingerbread spice and salt and mix until you get a soft dough. If the dough is a little bit sticky, then add in a tbsp or two of flour
3Split the dough into two and shape each one into a round disc, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour minimum
4Preheat oven to fan assisted 150C / 170C / 325F / gas 3
5Take the first disc of dough from the fridge, roll it out on a lightly floured surface till it is about 5mm thick and then cut into your desired shapes (using a 6cm diameter cutter) and lay on a lined baking sheet
6Quickly scoop up the excess of dough re shape roll out and cut again. Repeat with the second disc of dough. You can freeze some of the cut shortbread at this stage. Bake the shortbread biscuits for 12-14 minutes until they are lightly golden
7Let the shortbread cool on the tray for about 10 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack to cool completely.