Halvah and cardamom shortbread
Halvah and cardamom shortbread. I could not miss this nutty and fragrant Middle Eastern marriage of flavours. These shortbread are shaped like madeleine cakes. They are loaded with halvah and cardamom flavour. They are eggless and vegetarian as well.
How to make halvah and cardamom shortbread
Everybody is saying that making a good shortbread is easy. I disagree with this statement. Making a good shortbread may seem easy but actually it requires certain knowledge and understanding of ingredients.
Many recipes are saying just mix butter with sugar and then add flour and bake. Well, please read the below tips. They will help you to avoid all the issues while making a great shortbread.
TIPS:
- BUTTER: In order to make the best shortbread you need to use the best butter. Not margarine, or any other butter substitute. Real butter at its best. I used salted butter in this recipe. If you can not find salted butter, you can use unsalted but add 1/4 tsp of table salt. The buttery indulgent taste comes from real butter, this is it.
- SUGAR: Traditional Scottish shortbread is made with standard white granulated sugar. I also used this type of sugar in this recipe. It works like a charm and is easily available everywhere. Using white granulated sugar makes shortbread airy and light but not powdery.
- FLOUR: As simple as it may be in order to make a good shortbread, you need to use a soft flour. If you did not know flour can be soft, hard or medium.
- Hard flour has a high protein content and has a good ability to form gluten. It is perfect to make bread.
- Soft flour has a low protein content and lower ability to create strong gluten. This flour is also called pastry flour or cake flour. It makes baked goods more flaky than doughy. For any shortbread recipe soft flour is the best option.
- Medium flour, also called AP flour – it is a mix of soft and hard flour and is the most commonly available in supermarkets.
Fort his recipe, apart from the 3 standard shortbread ingredients I have also used :
4. HALVAH: I used white sesame seeds halvah. What is halvah? It is a type of confectionary from Middle East, the Balkans and North Africa. It is made from flour or different grains and seeds and mixed with water, honey or other ingredients depending on the flavour. The consistency is like a thick dense fudge but it is grainy. You can make your own halvah or buy some in your local supermarket in an international section. My favourite halvah is made from sesame seeds and flavoured with vanilla.
5. CARDAMOM: for this recipe I used a good quality ground cardamom.
6. WHITE CHOCOLATE: use good quality white chocolate and do not overheat it while melting.
7.SESAME SEEDS
HANDLING THE DOUGH – to make shortbread dough, I always use my hands. I rub butter and sugar together until combined, for about 8 minutes. Next I add flour, halvah and cardamom and gently rub it together until just combined. The whole secret is not to overwork the dough. Overworked dough means cakey and tough shortbread due to formation of gluten. We do not want it.
THICKESS AND SHAPING: I used madeleine mould to shape these cookies. I love the shape and they are perfect to dip in chocolate. I portion the dough into small portions of 30grams each and I got 14 cookies. Feel free to use different moulds if you wish.
What does halvah and cardamom shortbread taste like?
These wonderful cookies melt in your mouth. They are buttery, crumbly and taste fantastic. Nutty and sweet sesame seeds halvah goes perfectly with aromatic cardamom. To finish it off each cookie is dipped in white chocolate, sprinkled with sesame seeds and some edible glitter to add to the festive look. These halvah and cardamom shortbread cookies will look beautiful on your cookie platter this year.
How to store halvah and cardamom shortbread cookies
Store shortbread at room temperature in a cookie jar or a cookie tin. You can also freeze it for up to 6 months. In order to defrost shortbread, just take it out of the freezer and leave it at room temperature for an hour. It defrosts like a charm.
If you are looking for more shortbread recipes, I can recommend you the following:
Coffee and chocolate chunks shortbread
Chocolate and chili shortbread
Click this link to see the best shortbread recipes
I hope you will make my recipe and if you do, please leave a comment below and let me know your feedback. You can also find me on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Gab and Gettr. Please say hi and do not forget to tag me in if you make my recipe. I love seeing your creations.
Recipe source – my own
Enjoy!
Another day, another shortbread recipe. This time is is aromatic and wonderful halvah and cardamom shortbread.
- 120 g butter (salted, room temperature)
- 200 g flour ((soft flour, also called pastry flour or cake flour))
- 70 g sugar (white, granulated)
- 100 g halvah (I used vanilla sesame seeds halvah)
- 1 tsp cardamom (ground)
- 100 g chocolate (white, melted)
- 20 g sesame seeds (to sprinkle on top)
- edible glitter (optional)
Please read the above post as well. It includes useful information.
In a medium bowl add all the butter and sugar.
Using your fingers, rub these two together until combined. It took me 8 minutes.
Add flour, cardamom and chopped halvah. Rub all the ingredients together until crumbs start to firm. Make sure you do not knead or overwork the dough. This is important. The longer you work the dough the more gluten develops. It will make shortbread doughy and this is not good.
Preheat oven to 175C (347F).
Using a kitchen scale, divide the dough into 30 grams portions.
I used madeline mould to shape these cookies. Feel free to use any cookie mould you like. Press each dough portion in the mould.
Bake for 15 minutes until golden. Then take it out from oven and let it cool down completely before removing shortbread from moulds. Freshly baked shortbread is very soft and puffy. It hardens as it cools down.
When cookies are cold, dip each cookie in melted chocolate and sprinkle sesame seeds on top and some edible glitter.