Apple and Carrot Shortbread Recipe
An apple and carrot-flecked shortbread recipe inspired by a recipe I came across in Good Tempered Food by Tamasin Day-Lewis.
I discovered a small pile of cookbooks the other night as I was cleaning out a bedside cabinet. I must have pushed the books behind closed doors, (and conveniently) out of sight, while tidying up the house at some point. There they've been, undisturbed, for many, many months. When they re-emerged, I felt as if I'd come across a brand new pile of books - a little dusty, but aside from that there they were ready to provide me a few hours of reading on a particularly stormy afternoon. I tagged a few things to try, but one recipe in particular jumped out at me, the Apple and Carrot Shortbread from Good Tempered Food by Tamasin Day-Lewis.
It's not as if we need another shortbread recipe highlighted on this site - there's already this one and that one. But this promised to be a shortbread of a different breed - this one was buttery, sweet, and flecked with shredded apples and carrots. Even better - I had nearly everything on hand to make them.
I switched things up a bit from the original recipe, opting for a slightly more rustic version. For the sweetener, I thought a light Muscavado brown sugar would be nice alongside the apples - in place of white sugar. And I used a powdery-soft whole wheat pastry flour in place of unbleached all-purpose. And because I couldn't help myself, I tossed in some lemon zest for a bit of brightness.
For those of you who are more particular about your shortbread, I should mention, these cookies don't have quite as much snap as a shortbread made without moist, shredded apples and carrots in the dough, but they are charming (and delicious) all the same. I had a couple alongside a cup of one of my favorite white teas - and I have to say, it was not a bad way to spend a few moments looking out our big windows at the trees whipping around in the wind outside.
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Apple and Carrot Shortbread Recipe
You're going to want to use metal (or sharp-edged) cookie cutters here, it will help cut through the shreds of apple/carrot more easily. If you can't track down whole wheat pastry flour, substitute unbleached all-purpose flour, or I suspect white whole wheat flour work just fine as well.
1/4 cup / 2 ounces / 50g semolina flour
1 1/2 cups / 6 ounces whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
5 ounces (150g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup / 3 1/2 ounces (100g) light Muscovado sugar (or brown sugar)
2 ounces (50g) carrot, grated (about 1/4 cup)
1 ounce (25g) apple, grated (about 1/6 of a med. apple)
zest of one lemon
milk
Preheat your oven to 350F degrees, or 180C. Sift the semolina, flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl, and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Stir the carrot, apple, and lemon zest into the flour mixture, and mix until well coated and evenly dispersed. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until a dough forms, then knead a couple times to bring everything together. Split the dough in two, flatten each piece into an inch-thick patty, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes.
When you're ready to bake the shortbread, roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface 1/2-inch thick/1cm. Use a metal cutters to stamp out cookies, then place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush lightly with a bit of milk and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to brown just a bit.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
This recipe was adapted from Good Tempered Food: by Tamasin Day-Lewis. Published by Miramax (October 2004).
Prep time: 10 minutes - Cook time: 60 minutes
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Comments
Very nice recipe.... but apart from that, I am thrilled to know that I'm not the only one who finds cookbooks behind pieces of furniture. :-)
Heidi says in the first line that 1/4c=2oz=50g for the flour. Use the same logic for the carrots. Use half the amount for apples.
Heidi, these look amazing!! I am wondering, though, would do you think it would work to substitute solid coconut oil in place of butter to make it vegan? Just curious if that might work. They look scrumptious! HS: I think you could. And if you give it a try, let me know how they turn out. I can update the head notes.
Thank you Heidi for using GRAMS! This is a good thing! I moved to the Netherlands a few years ago, and everything I buy is of course marked using the metric system. It's so frustrating to make guesses. I use google but it doesn't always work between certain measurements. Please keep it up!
ounces and grams? cups and teaspoons please! Thanks!
Anyone have any ideas on quantity if I wanted to substitute agave for the brown sugar in the recipe? ...and if this would ruin it or not? thanks!
Good day, Hedi & online family, I believe that you are right on once again. This is the perfect cookie for the up coming holiday season and a smart way to feed the little mores more vegetables. I look forward to your next post. I think I might even drizzle a bit of white or milk chocolate ont my finished product.
I love offering two types of dueling shortbreads at dinner parties. I think your apple-carrot version would go great with this coconut shortbread. Thanks for the recipe!
This is one of my favorite cookbooks, I'm so glad to see you try out one of the recipes and put your own spin on it. Can't wait to try both versions and compare.
The measurement for the carrots and apples is in ounces. Is that weight or volume?
fantastic! i have all the ingredients on hand too. :)
What a lovely recipe! Who would have thought of adding apples and carrots?
Ok, I'm behind the times and don't have a kitchen scale at home (although I bake and cook every day) - anyone have an idea approximately how much apple/carrot = 2 ounces (50g) carrot, grated 1 ounce (25g) apple, grated
so cute! i am not a shortbread fan, all i can think of are those gross girlscout cookies, but this looks like the type to change hearts. Lovely alterations, there is always room for lemon zest ;)
These look beautiful! I'm always looking for something to do with all the carrots my CSA has been supplying me with.
The list of ingredients looks very promising. Even better, I have them all at home ( the semolina flour I have is wholemeal though). Anyway, I'll make them first thing tomorrow morning. Thanks for sharing.
I'm definitely going to make these, they look even nicer than the very delicious carrot cookies I made from this website. They made me think of an apple and vanilla cake I had recently from Ottolenghi, a small chain of delis in (posh areas of!) London. It was the nicest cake I've ever had ... do you know a good recipe for apple and vanilla cake?! I read your blog and regularly wish I could slice cabbage thinly!!
Your shortbread cookies are so cute and dainty! I agree these cookies pair well with tea. I like that the ingredients in this recipe are so accessible. Thanks for sharing!
These sound delicious - I'll definitely be trying the recipe. You can never have too many shortcake recipes :-)
Noo, if only I'd read this yesterday, lol... I have all those ingredients and ended up making ordinary applesauce cookies. Next time for sure, and yes they'd make a great gift. Beautiful.
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