Thyme, orange and chocolate low fodmap shortbread
Shortbread is ALWAYS delicious, but add some fresh thyme and orange zest and it’s even better! One of the best things about this recipe, is that once the dough is shaped and rolled into a log, you can keep it in the fridge or freezer until you’re ready to have freshly baked cookies. And given they only take 15-20 minutes in the oven, you can have that gorgeous smell of fresh cookies wafting through the house just as guests arrive for morning tea. Makes approx. 25 shortbread, depending on how you shape your dough.
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
50g raw caster sugar
120g dark chocolate (70%+ dark chocolate), roughly chopped
250g low fodmap plain flour (I used White Wings Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour but the Lo-Fo Pantry Low Fodmap Plain Flour works well if you’re not catering for coeliacs)
100g rice flour
finely grated rind of 1 orange
200g butter, diced (I used salted butter because I think it makes the thyme pop more but feel free to choose unsalted butter)
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180C and line 2 baking trays.
Use a pestle and mortar to mix the fresh thyme and caster sugar. Divide the thyme and sugar mix - leaving half to use in the dough mix and the remaining half for rolling the dough in.
Melt the chocolate in a small bowl (either in the microwave or stovetop).
Sift the flours into a mixing bowl. Add half the thyme and sugar mix, orange rind and butter and rub until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. After 4 minutes, you’ll end up with a dough.
Now this stage can get messy. Ultimately, the goal is to “mix” in the hot chocolate to achieve a marbled effect. You can do this by mixing the hot chocolate with a knife or poking holes in the dough and pouring in the melted chocolate. (Clearly when we were taking professional photographs, I was far too genteel and used the poking method so as not to make a mess. But the result was “somewhat marbled”. Just get in there with your hands and mix the choc in!)
Shape the dough into 2 logs about 15-20cm each (depending on the size of biscuit you prefer). It’s at this stage where you can choose to halve your dough - some shortbread for now; some for the freezer. If you’re saving some for later, wrap half of the dough in plastic, label and then store it in the freezer. Otherwise, continue with half or the full amount of dough by rolling it up in baking paper and chilling in the fridge for 15 mins.
Once firm, you can roll the log into the perfect cylindrical shape and then roll in the remaining herbed sugar. Cut into 1cm slices and place on a lined baking tray(s). At this stage, I sometimes opt to put the uncooked dough back in the fridge if I’ve been messing with it for a while and it’s gotten soft. But if the dough still looks firm, pop it straight into the oven bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
ps. the smaller the biscuit, the less time it will take to cook so start checking your shortbread at 12 mins.
SERVING SUGGESTION
These shortbread taste fabulous freshly cooked and served with a gut-friendly hot chocolate .