Mincemeat Shortbread

Christmas Cookie #9! I recently took a cooking class at the King Arthur Flour baking school in the Skagit Valley, which was so much fun! I find that it’s odd that King Arthur has two cooking schools, and one is in a little-known location that is close to me. I’m not complaining, and I learned how to make (American) biscuits and scones. All of the baking was done without a mixer, and I tried that with this shortbread.

This is a simple recipe, cut in the butter and then add the other elements. At the class, they used a pastry cutter, but it was different than the one I remember. The teacher explained that the pastry cutter that has wires is meant for lard, where the sturdier ones are good for butter. The wire doesn’t hold up to butter near enough.

I mixed this in a bowl, using my modern pastry cutter, but I think that my bowl was a little too small and it was hard to get the butter fully cut in. The mixture was crumbly when I was done, so I ended up adding a couple tablespoons of heavy cream to bring it together. It baked up just fine, and as shortbread it is on the crumbly side. This is a great way to use some extra mincemeat that you have around!

Mincemeat Shortbread
225 grams flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon ginger
110 grams butter, room temperature
50 grams brown sugar
Zest of half an orange
140 grams mincemeat
Heavy cream or milk

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 11” x 7” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray. You could also use a 10” diameter round pan if you would prefer.

In a medium mixer bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and ginger. Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the mixture. Mix on low until the dough becomes crumbly. Add the brown sugar and orange zest and stir to combine. Add the mincemeat and stir on low until the dough comes together. If needed, add heavy cream to help the dough come together. Press the dough into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden. Cool before cutting into bars in the pan.

Recipe from Falcondale Life