Orange, Lemon Basil Shortbread Biscuits with Dark Chocolate & Raspberry Jam Filling.
It’s always nice to have a few biscuit recipes that can be pulled out to impress when guests arrive, and if those recipes have ingredients that ‘shouldn’t’ go together, but taste amazing, even better.
This is one of those recipes!
Mixing citrus zests and fresh basil may sound a little unusual, but when baked in a not too sweet short bread, the flavours become one delicious and very more-ish biscuit.
Add it to that list of things to bake when you want to impress your guests.
If they’re not getting eaten straight away, these are a fabulous gift. Baked fresh, in a pretty tin and gifted to someone you like, I promise you’ll put a big smile on their face.
Go on, give it a go and enjoy your sweet life!
Flavoursome shortbread filled with a chocolaty zesty filling.
What You Need
400g Plain Flour
250g Softened Butter
110g Castor Sugar – Plus more for dusting
20-30 Fresh Basil Leaves – Chopped very finely – See Tip Box
1 Tsp Vanilla
Zest of 2 Lemons
Zest of 2 Oranges
Lots of zest and fresh basil
Filling
100g Dark Chocolate - Chopped
3 Tbsp Raspberry Jam – See Tip Box
This is what it looks like when tipped from the food processor
How It’s Done
Cover a few baking trays with non-stick baking parchment and set aside until needed.
Don’t over handle the dough , just bring it together.
Biscuit Dough
Place the softened butter and the sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer.
Beat until it becomes light and airy – Scraping down the sides of the bowl several times whilst beating
Add the vanilla, chopped basil and the orange and lemon zests
Beat again until really well mixed together.
Add the flour and beat until the mixture starts to come together – It’s important not to over mix the dough – See Tip Box
Tip the mixture out onto a work surface, and quickly bring it together into a mound – Don’t over mix – See Tip Box
DO NOT KNEAD THE DOUGH
Use hands to bring it together into a dough
Flatten it down, wrap in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes
Once rested, throw a little flour onto the worksurface, and roll out the dough to about the thickness of a £1 coin – A cutter about 2-2 1/2 inches
Prick twice & dust with castor sugar before baking.
Lay the cut biscuits on the trays, about ½ inch apart
Use a fork to prick the top of each biscuits twice
Heat the oven to 170c
Put the tray back in the fridge to rest for a further 10 minutes
Sprinkle the top of each biscuit with castor sugar
Add an even layer of the filling to one biscuit
Place into the hot oven a bake for 10-12 minutes – until pale in colour but a little brown n the bottom
Remove the trays from the oven and let the biscuits cool for 5 minutes on the tray before transferring them to a cooking rack.
Once completely cold, assemble the biscuits
Beautiful crumbly shortbread with a smooth chocolate and raspberry filling.
Filling
Melt the chopped chocolate and add the jam to the melted chocolate
Mix it together really well so that the jam melts into the chocolate
Let the mixture come to room temperature
Package them in a pretty tin to gift to someone special.
Assembly
Once cooled, spread a teaspoon of the chocolate filling onto one of the biscuits – being careful to add the filling to the non-sugar side.
Spread it as smooth as possible and then top with another biscuit
Tempting to have more than one
Tip Box
Basil Leaves – 1) Fresh basil is best in this recipe. It adds the perfect freshness, and gives a great colour to the biscuits.
2) Once you’ve made these biscuits once or twice, you will know if you need to add more to suit your taste.
Jam – I’ve used lots of flavours of jam for the filling of this recipe. My favourites are raspberry or a mixed berry jam.
Don’t Over Mix – It’s really important not to over handle or over mix the dough. Over mixing/handling will make the end biscuit tough to eat.
