Lemon Cornmeal Shortbread Recipes

LEMON CORNMEAL SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• In medium bowl, beat butter, sugar, lemon peel and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed 2 minutes. Gradually add flour and cornmeal, beating just until blended. Divide dough in half. On waxed paper or plastic wrap, shape half of dough into 6-inch square. Repeat with remaining half of dough. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm.
• Heat oven to 325°F. On lightly floured surface, cut each square of dough into 6 rows by 3 rows. On ungreased cookie sheets, place rectangles about 1 inch apart. Prick with fork.
• Bake 17 to 19 minutes or until set and edges begin to brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.

CLASSIC LEMON SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Beat butter until fluffy in a large bowl.
• Beat in sugar, egg, lemon extract and lemon rind.
• Combine flour, cornmeal and salt. Gradually add to butter mixture, mixing well.
• Shape dough into a log about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours. (Can also freeze at this point. Frozen dough keeps for 3 months).
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets.
• Cut dough into 1/4 inch thick slices.
• Bake on greased cookie sheets until cookie just begin to brown at the edges, about ten minutes.
• Remove from pan and cool on wire racks.
• For glaze, beat butter, confectioner's sugar and lemon juice to make a thin glaze. Drizzle over cooled cookies.

CORNMEAL LIME SHORTBREAD FANS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grate 1 teaspoon zest from the limes. (You can usually get 1 teaspoon from 1 lime, but you may need to grate some zest off the other.) Add to a food processor.
• Add flour, cornmeal, sugar and salt and pulse once or twice to combine. Add butter and pulse until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Pulse a few more times until some of the crumbs start to come together, but don't overprocess the dough. It should be somewhat crumbly and not form a ball. (Alternatively, you can mix this in a bowl using two knives, or use a pastry cutter to mix the butter into the flour.)
• Press the dough into an even layer in an ungreased, fluted 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom or in a 9-inch pie pan. Prick the dough all over with a fork. Bake until golden brown, about 40 to 50 minutes.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Using a butter knife, cut the shortbread into 12 wedges while still warm.
• Make the glaze: Halve the zested lime and squeeze 1 tablespoon juice into a small bowl. Whisk in confectioners' sugar and, if you like, more lime juice to taste. (More lime juice will make the glaze thinner and more tart, while less lime juice yields a thicker, sweeter glaze.) Drizzle glaze over the cooled shortbread, then zest the second lime over the icing before it sets. (Use a citrus zester, if you have one, or a regular zester, if you don't.)

ALMOND, LEMON AND CORNMEAL SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Blanch the almonds in boiling water for approximately 1 minute. Drain in a sieve and peel the skin off, by squeezing between your thumb and finger. (be careful not to shoot them across the room, they become slippery) Place them in a food processor and chop them finely by pulsing. Add the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest. Pulse a couple of time to combine. Add the 4 oz. of softened butter and pulse to combine. The dough will just look crumbly. Take the 1 tablespoon of butter and grease a 9" springform pan (just the bottom and 1 " up the sides. Spread the dough in the pan. The dough will just barely stick together, so you will need to pat it down, to an even layer. Bake for approximately 30 minutes. (check after 20). The shortbread should be just light golden, not brown. Take out of the oven, let cool for 5 minutes. Remove the bottom of the springform pan and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into small manageable pieces. Let cool completely and dust with powdered sugar. If you double the recipe, you can bake this in a jelly roll pan, and cut triangle shapes of shortbread.