As the weather turns colder, my oven slowly starts coming back to life. After a long, hot summer without baking, I’m standing back in the kitchen and need to get used to being back here. That means short and quick transitional bakes, that are maybe a bit lighter than normal autumnal tastes. That’s why I baked these delicious smoky cookies last week, and that’s why this week I’m happily baking this lovely pink peppercorn and ginger shortbread, a recipe from Benjamina Ebuehi.
Pink peppercorns are aromatic, quite sweet, and a lot lighter than the black variety. I like to use them in savoury dishes, like this Bulgur Pilaf from Yotam Ottolenghi (one of my favourite dishes), yet I’ve never thought about putting them in a sweet recipe. But, I trust Benjamina whole-heartedly. Her new recipe book A Good Day to Bake: Simple Baking Recipes for Every Moodfrom where the shortbread recipe comes, has an unbelievable amount of good recipes. I bought the book a couple of months ago, and I’ve already gone through a lot of the recipes, some more than once – they’re just so good!
I like to bake shortbread as the basic recipe is quite simple.. Of course, there are a million different varieties, but for the classic recipe you only need sugar, butter, and flour. What’s important is that you follow a simple ratio: 1:2:3. For example, 50g sugar, 100g butter, and 150g flour – easy.
Pink Peppercorn and Ginger Shortbread
Ingredients
- 2 tsp pink peppercorns
- 200 g butter
- 100 g sugar
- 300 g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp ginger powder
- 40 g candied ginger
- 3 tbsp sugar
Instructions
- Full Method, p.135 A Good Day to Bake by Benjamina Ebuehi
Results
This shortbread recipe was exactly what I needed. Mainly because it was short and simple enough that I didn’t need to spend a long time in the kitchen, but also because it was really tasty. The biscuits taste, thanks to the fruity peppercorns, really light and actually quite summerly. The ginger is not strong and brings a light warmth to the shortbread, that is really delectable. Normally, I’m a fan of more ginger (I like it spicy), but here the flavour is harmonious: everything works together. On the whole, these shortbread biscuits are light and delicate, and pair beautifully with an afternoon tea break.
