Angelica Shortbread is a modern British recipe for a classic flour, ground rice and butter shortbread biscuit flavoured with angelica seeds and wattleseeds. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Angelica Shortbread.
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The origins of shortbread go back to medieval times, arising from bread that was baked, dusted with sugar and spices and then baked again so it hardened into a rusk (a true biscuit [ie twice-baked]).
The bread was eventually replaced with a dough made with wheat and rice flour bound with butter. During the 17th and 18th century, when caraway confits fell out of favour, spices such as this were used to flavour biscuits.
Here I've replaced caraway with angelica seeds, a traditional spice that most people are not aware of these days. The name angelica originates from a 17th century legend from the 17th century, a time when Europe was suffering from pests and plagues. In a dream, a monk was told from an angel that this plant could alleviate the suffering. As a result The College of Physicians in London some years later developed and issued ‘The Kings Majesty’s Excellent Recipe for the Plague’ based on this fabulous plant. It was claimed to have positive effects towards a number of diseases and is often referred to as Holy Ghost.
Along with angelica I've included a more exotic spice, wattleseed (also known as acacia seed). This is native to Australia and available on-line (I just happened to have some in my storer cupboard). Wattleseed have a rich chocolate, coffee and hazelnut flavour and are an ideal spice for shortbread.
Ingredients:
225g salted butter
110g caster sugar (plus 1 tsp to decorate)
1 tsp angelica seeds, crushed in a mortar
1 tbsp wattleseed, crushed in a mortar
280g plain flour
60g rice flour
Method:
Separately crush the angelica seeds and wattleseed with a pestle and mortar (this helps release their flavour).
Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Stir in the spices, mixing until evenly combined.
Sift over the flours then gently fold into the butter mix. Bring the dough together, wrap in clingfilm then transfer to your refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.
Pre-heat your oven to 150C and line two baking trays with baking parchment.
Once chilled, turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured work surface. Roll out to about 1cm thick then cut out shapes with biscuit cutters. As you cut each biscuit transfer to the baking trays. Re-roll the scraps to make more biscuits.
Transfer the baking trays to your pre-heated oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until lightly golden at the edges.
Remove from the oven, sprinkle a little caster sugar over the top then allow to cool on the baking trays for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
If stored in an air-tight tin the shortbreads will keep for 4 weeks.
