A couple of days ago a box of butter arrived on my doorstep from my dairy farmer in-laws Cathy and Jamie Tait-Jamieson. Cathy and Jamie have a micro dairy factory on their farm where they produce Biofarm yoghurt with milk from their own cows. They are also one of a number of organic farmers whose cream goes into the making of Organic Times butter.
The delivery of several kilos of the stuff was a not too subtle reminder that I had promised to come up with a recipe to promote said butter. I love butter, and I particularly like this butter – it’s organic, fresh tasting, creamy and not too heavily salted. I will happily put it in everything I cook but my brief was to provide a single recipe in which butter was the hero ingredient.
I considered beurre blanc and then butterscotch but finally settled on shortbread. In it’s simplest form, shortbread is 3 parts flour, 2 parts butter and 1 part sugar. There are variations – substituting a bit of rice flour makes the biscuit crisper, cornflour gives it a softer melting texture, and then you can add, chocolate chips, vanilla, lemon, whatever – but a good shortbread biscuit is entirely dependent on the quality of the butter. It’s the difference between shop bought and homemade. So I spent this weekend baking and came up with the following recipe which delivers a melt-in-the mouth biscuit with just enough orange zest to add interest without taking attention away from the butter.
Orange Butter Biscuits
I’ve used unsalted butter and added a small amount of salt to the recipe. This might seem to defeat the purpose but some butters are more salty than others and this way gives more control.
175g good unsalted butter, softened but not melted
85g caster sugar
fine zest of one orange (a microplane gives the best result)
200g plain flour
50g cornflour
¼ teaspoon salt
caster sugar for sprinkling
Preheat oven to 150°C
Line 1 large or 2 small baking trays with baking paper.
Beat butter and sugar together until smooth and creamy. Beat in orange zest. Sift together plain flour, cornflour and salt. Add to butter mixture and combine gently using hands. Form into a disc shape and roll out to 1 cm thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut out circles or other shapes. Place on baking sheet, prick with a fork and chill in refrigerator for 15-20 minutes before baking (this helps them keep their shape). Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until lightly coloured. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before sprinkling with caster sugar. Transfer to a rack. When cold store in an airtight tin.
Makes 24 if using a 5cm diameter cutter
Love, Love, Love a good butter – is this one available in the shops in Wellington?
Thank you for the recipe Anna – can’t wait to try it but might add lemon zest instead of the orange, cause that’s how I roll!!
I boarded with a sweet old lady when I was in Auckland studying at the Cordon Bleu institute in Parnell in the 80’s. Aunty Ev would make shortbread every week and there was nothing better with a cuppa when you came home from class…
I’m keen to try the lemon zest/poppy seed combination that I saw somewhere. I also thought about making lemon curd but that’s your territory!
You can get this butter from most New Worlds and Pak n Saves, also Farro, Moore Wilson and organic food stores.You could probably also pick up a couple of blocks from me – I have enough on hand to inspire a cardiac arrest – give me a call if you’re in town.
Do the Lemon Curd Anna – we are no longer making it – will tell all over a coffee? Maybe not back in NZ for another 6 weeks – distressed as I won’t be able to relieve you of some butter until then. Would hate to see you in cardiac arrest territory (how do you manage the duck fat?)
always up for a coffee. Let me know when you’re back in the city.
Good tip about chilling before baking to keep the shape of the biscuit. Can’t wait to try 🙂
I was very heartened to see a big stack of OT butter in Pak ‘n Save last week – though I am sure the best thing to do with such excellent butter is eat it by the slice (salt flakes, optional). If the heart disease doesn’t get me then the debtor’s prison will!
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