Do you have a spare lemon left over from pancake day… then this is the perfect recipe for you. These delicious lemony bite sized shortbread biscuits are sweet, soft but also have a slight crunch from the icing. They are so cute you could pop them in a nice box and give them as a tasty, gluten free valentine’s gift.

 

Gluten Free Lemon Shortbread Biscuits

Prep time: 10 minutes plus 30 minutes chilling time

Cooking time: 12 – 15 minutes

makes: 2 trays

Ingredients:

125g butter, room temperature

65g caster sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of ½ lemon

180g gluten free plain flour (I used Doves farm)

½ tsp xanthum gum (this is very useful in gluten free cooking, you can buy it in the supermarket but if you can’t find it you can leave it out. If you do have some though it gives them a better texture and makes it easier to roll the mixture out)

1 tbsp granulated sugar for sprinkling on top of the shortbreads

125g royal icing sugar

a little yellow food colouring

Heat your oven to 150°F and spread some non stick baking paper over 2 trays.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the lemon zest and juice and stir through.

Sift the gluten free flour together with the xanthum gum. Add it to the butter and sugar mixture and roughly combine with a fork. Then bring the mixture together with your hands to form a ball of dough. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and pop into the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough out onto a floured surface to around 3-5mm in thickness. Cut the dough into shortbread shapes with cookie cutters, I chose bite sized hearts and stars but you can use any size shape you like.

Spread them across the two lined trays leaving space in between the biscuits. Sprinkle a little granulated sugar over the top of each biscuit and bake in the oven for 12 – 15 minutes. They should just be starting to brown at the edges.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Once cool transfer to a wire rack.

Whilst the biscuits are cooling pour the icing sugar into a small bowl. Add some water a little at a time to the bowl stirring as you go until you get the right consistency, a smooth paste.

Spoon half the mixture into another bowl and add a little yellow food colouring so you get yellow and white.

Put the white icing in a piping bag and pipe over the biscuits. Then add the yellow icing to the piping bag and do the same.

Allow the icing to dry and then enjoy with a nice cup of tea.

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