BUTTERY Tea Shortbread

It's biscuit or cookie time and today we're going with a classic buttery shortbread but with a twist - there's a touch of tea to pep up your afternoon tea time! This is a classic shortbread using the 1,2 and 3 ratios and is a neverfail delicious shortbread!

Baking shortbread is all about ratios and there are several recipes for shortbread. Some use rice flour, some use all plain all purpose flour to get a lovely short texture. This classic type of shortbread uses a 1,2,3 ratio of sugar, butter and plain all purpose flour and produces a wonderful, short, crisp shortbread that you can make into shortbread fingers. With only a few ingredients you do want to use the best butter you have as the flavour of the butter shines through. You can use your favourite tea variety - Earl Grey is lovely as it green tea! I created a series of recipes for Yorkshire black tea and it was perfect to use in it in both the biscuit itself and as the tea accompanying it.

This shortbread is also easily made in a food processor so the prep is very easy taking about 10 minutes total. Once you press it into the tin you score lines and prick it with a fork and bake. That's it! I know they call shortbread because it is short in texture but it is also short in prep time hehe!

Speaking of baking, a couple of months ago I was interviewed by a lovely Finnish journalist called Virpi about pavlova and Australian desserts. When interviews are done sometimes it can take months for it to be printed especially for magazines so you often lose track of them. Then a week ago I noticed that I had some more Finnish followers but I wasn't sure where they came from. Then Mr NQN's cousin sent them a clipping of the newspaper magazine and it was a nice, long article. However I couldn't read a word of it apart from my name and I was curious to see what was written. Google translate wasn't working either. "Can you call your mum?" I asked Mr NQN.

He obliged although getting Tuulikki to translate it was easier said than done. Tuulikki started what she thought was translating but all she was doing was reading it out in Finnish! I guess that's what can happen when people are bilingual.

"Oh yes okay!" she said when we pointed it out to her. It took about 40 minutes but she patiently translated it for us. It ended up being a very long and lovely story about pavlova and a deep dive on the Australian classic recipes on my blog. And Hei to any new Finnish readers out there!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you like shortbread? Do you have a favourite butter?

Tea Shortbread

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Serves: 12

• 240g/8ozs. plain all purpose flour

• 2-3 x Tea Bags (depending on how speckled you want it, I used 3 in these pics)

• 70g/2.5ozs. icing sugar

• 150g/5ozs. butter, salted

• Pinch of salt

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 160C/320F and line a 20x20cm or 8x8inch square tin with parchment on the base and sides. Place the flour, tea bag contents, icing sugar and salt in a large food processor and process until tea leaves are well dispersed. Add the butter and pulse to combine. If it is too dry add a tablespoon or 2 of milk.

Step 2 - Press into the parchment lined tin and score deep lines into the dough. Prick with a fork and bake for 40 minutes until pale golden. Cool for 5 minutes and then remove from the tin. Cut into fingers with a sharp knife.