Lemon and Elderflower Shortbread | Bake Off Bake Along

Bake off, b-b-baake off.

It's back and with it is my attempt at the Bake Off Bake Along. I loved (and sometimes hated) it last year so am taking it on again to challenge myself a bit more. Well that was the plan until I heard about the challenges being simplified this year. 

I really, really wanted hard bakes to push and challenge me, but no instead week one is flooded biscuits, wagon wheels and regional biscuits. 

I mean, I'm still excited for it to be back on TV, just maybe that excitement has been a teeny weeny bit snuffed out. But I'm still going to give the Bake Off a go, even if it might be the last time. 

What did everyone think of the first episode? For me, I spent approximately 10 minutes shouting at the tv when they were all struggling to coat their wagon wheels in chocolate. It was beyond painful and why was someone painting it on? 

I struggled a bit trying to pick a different bake this week, but with no time this week for flooded biscuits, even though I really did want to take on the Disney castle, I stuck with a much safer biscuit option of my heritage... shortbread.

That and Sussex doesn't really have a regional biscuit I found out after a lengthy google search. 

So Scotland it was. 

With my dad coming from Scotland, I went to him for the true recipe combination. His chosen tricks were either cornflour to give it the melt in the mouth flavour or birds custard powder to give it a slightly golden colour. 

In terms of flavour, I have been a bit obsessed with lemon recently, especially Aldi's lemon posset desserts. Just don't look at the calories. So for my first bake, I have done lemon shortbread delicately flavoured with elderflower. I say delicately, because the elderflower taste kinda disappeared when baking. 

You win some. You lose some.

Despite adding more than originally planned, it still sort of disappears into the lemon. But regardless, the texture is perfect shortbread... and I cannae wait for the next slice.

Lemon and Elderflower Shortbread

Ingredients:

250g plain flour

50g cornflour

75g caster sugar + extra for sprinkling

225g unsalted butter, room temperature

zest of 2 unwaxed lemons

4 tsp elderflower cordial (if you are after a stronger flavour, I would advise adding 2 tsp more and also 25g more flour)

Directions:

1. Place the flour, cornflour, caster sugar zest and elderflower in a large bowl and rub the butter. 
2. The mixture should slowly turn from crumbly to a ball of dough. Make sure the butter is evenly distributed throughout. 
3. Sprinkle some flour onto a clean and dry surface and roll the dough until it comes together properly. 
4. Lined a tray with greaseproof paper and press the ball of dough down into your chosen shape. Make sure your dough is roughly 1cm thick. Score the shortbread into strips or slices, being careful not to slice the whole way through.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the edges have started to brown. 
6. Remove from the oven and while warm, slice fully over the scored lines.