Almond Shortbread

I’ve been making Almond Milk and its byproduct, Almond Meal, for about a month now. The Almond Milk goes at a steady pace into my morning cereal and I continue to look for good uses for the Almond Meal.

Recently I discovered Almond Shortbread. It’s simple to make and the outcome is excellent. It’s a basic shortbread (which is 1/3 butter to 2/3 flour) with 1/3 of the flour substituted by Almond Meal. I’m thinking I should try this kind of substitution in a lot of my baking.

Easy Almond Shortbread Recipe:

• Cream 1/2 cup (110 grams) room temperature butter, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
• Add 1/3 cup Almond Meal, 2/3 cup flour, 2 Tablespoons cornstarch and a dash of salt.
• Mix well but don’t overwork.
• Press into a spring form pan and score the top to make wedges. Optionally, add almond slivers to the top of each wedge for taste and decoration (I tried it on 4 pieces, not my thing but my husband likes it).
• Bake at 150 C (300 F) for 45-55 minutes, until light brown.
• Cool for 5 minutes then remove from pan, cut through wedges and let individual pieces cool on cooling rack.
• Store in airtight container.

Frank’s suggested I do this in a square pan to make little rectangles rather than triangles. The advantage would be the corners wouldn’t break off, the disadvantage might be the whole thing crumbles if I can’t get it out of the pan. I will try it and I’ll use baking paper so I should be able to score the advantages without the disadvantages.