Peppered shortbread and plum butter hearts
Peppered shortbread and plum butter hearts
by: Claudia Anton
Just in time for the season of romance, or just to express your affection in an edible way. These are little buttery delights where the shortbread is spiced up with a hint of black pepper and sea salt and filled with the most beautifully hued blood plum butter.
Spicy, sweet, gorgeous and in perfect harmony – that sounds like a pretty good relationship.
Kitchen tools needed
2 baking trays
A cooling rack
One strong piping bag
Wilton 21 star nozzle (or equivalent)
One piping bag adaptor
4cm heart-shaped cookie cutter
Cole and Mason London Pepper and Salt Mills
Makes approx. 30 complete biscuits
Prep and baking – 1.5 hours plus overnight resting time for the plum butter
Difficulty – Moderate (needs some piping skills and a firm grip)
Ingredients
Plum butter
- 500g blood plums - stones , blemishes, and stems removed.
- Juice of half a lemon
- A cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp vanilla
- A splash of water
- 200g raw Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Pectin mixed with ½ tablespoon sugar
Peppered shortbread
- 240g cultured unsalted butter – at room temperature
- 50g pure icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- A good pinch of salt to taste (finely ground)
- ¼ tsp finely ground black pepper
- 250g plain flour
- 45g rice flour
Method
For the plum butter
1. Chop the plums into 8ths
2. Boil the plums, water, lemon juice and cinnamon stick in a medium saucepan over gentle heat until broken down and soft. Stir regularly to prevent the fruit from catching.
3. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved, then bring to a boil and cook for six minutes.
4. Add the pectin and boil for another 2 minutes, stirring all the time.
5. Cool, remove the cinnamon stick and blend until smooth.
6. Store covered in the fridge overnight to allow the butter to set.
For the shortbread hearts
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C, fan forced.
1. Beat butter, icing sugar and vanilla until fluffy using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer.
2. Sift the flour and mix into the butter on low speed with the salt and black pepper until combined.
3. Divide the dough into two and place half into a piping bag fitted with the star nozzle and adaptor.
4. Pipe out heart shapes onto baking trays with a gap in the center. They only need a little spacing as spread is minimal.
5. Gently roll the remaining dough/or pat it out to a thickness of approximately 4mm. It’s easier to roll a small portion at a time. Make sure the bench is well floured as the dough is very soft.
6. Cut out an equal number of heart shapes into piped hearts and lift with a spatula onto the baking tray.
7. Bake at 160 degrees C, fan forced, for 10 minutes or until just starting to colour.
8. Allow to cool.
9. When ready to serve, spread a little plum butter onto the flat side of the cut out hearts to form the base, and top with a piped heart biscuit. Extra jam can be lobbed into the center if desired.
Store any extra shortbreads in the fridge.
Tips:
- This makes more plum butter than you need, but it is so delicious on fresh bread, scones, pancakes, cake, and yoghurt… Keep it refrigerated and use within 2 weeks.
- Use a cloth or thick plastic piping bag as you need quite a bit of pressure to squeeze out the dough.
- Only piping a portion at a time makes it easier as the dough warms a little in your hands.
- Don’t despair if the piping is a little wonky, go with it, practice or just pick it up and pop it back in the bag.
