Orange Shortbread Biscuits

Orange Shortbread Biscuits, light, buttery, and with a hint of citrus, are an absolute delight. Enjoy them with a cuppa or as a crunchy accompaniment to desserts like panna cotta and ice cream. Or make as a welcome gift.

So easy, you just whizz up the dough (flour, butter, salt, sugar, orange zest, plus optional orange extract) in a food processor. Roll into two log shapes then chill in the fridge for half an hour. When ready to bake, slice off thick or thin biscuits and pop in the oven.

Fifteen to twenty minutes later you’ll have light textured, buttery shortbread biscuits with the zesty flavour of orange.

As well as a detailed recipe card at the end, in this post I give suggestions for varying the biscuits e.g., with a drizzle of citrussy icing.

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SHORTBREAD

Who doesn’t love shortbread?

Whether you eat shortbread fingers, triangular ‘petticoat tails’, or shortbread rounds, this sweet, buttery and crumbly biscuit has been enjoyed since at least the sixteenth century.

A form of harder shortbread, made with sweetened leftover bread dough, is even thought to have been around in Scotland since the twelfth century. But the French-influenced court of Mary Queen of Scots is usually credited with the lighter, butter-rich shortbread we know today.

Classic shortbread is made with just flour, butter, sugar, and salt. You’ll find my basic recipe for Shortbread triangles here.

I also love shortbread as a sweet base instead of pastry. Check out my Jammy Shortbread Squares with Oat Crumble Topping and the magnificent (even if I do say so myself) Mincemeat Shortbread Squares with Almond Crumble. I’ve even made Apple Tart with a shortbread crust.

But I want to share with you today wonderful Orange Shortbread Biscuits.

ORANGE SHORTBREAD BISCUITS

INGREDIENTS

These great little biscuits have all the properties you want from shortbread: light but insanely buttery. And with the added pleasure of orange.

Besides plain flour, butter, sugar, and salt, you’ll need the zest of three medium to large oranges.

Adding a little orange extract enhances the zesty flavour further but isn’t absolutely necessary.

I’ve made Orange Shortbread Biscuits with and without extract and loved them both. Just make sure you have plenty of zest. The more, the better!

MAKING THE DOUGH

To make the dough, I recommend a food processor. You could rub the butter into the other ingredients by hand, but it’ll take some doing.

With a food processor, you start by whizzing up the flour, sugar, and salt just to combine them. Then the butter’s added and you whizz again until you have a breadcrumb-like mixture.

Finally, the orange zest goes in (plus the extract if using) and you whizz until a dough forms.

Depending on the power of your processor, this can take a few minutes.

Don’t be tempted to add water or anything else to bring the dough together.

It WILL happen if you keep whizzing.

SHAPING THE BISCUITS

Now comes the great part. The high butter content of the dough makes it so easy to work with. Which means rolling pin or biscuit cutters not required.

As with my melt-in-the-mouth Parmesan & Cheddar Biscuits, the technique for cutting shortbread biscuits is pretty neat.

You won’t need any extra flour, although a silicone mat is very useful. Working with half the dough at a time, I roll it up and down into a cylindrical log.

Because the biscuits are quite rich, I think a smallish diameter of 3 – 4 centimetres is about right.

Once your dough logs are smoothish, flatten the ends, then wrap in cling film. To secure, twist the ends so that you have Christmas cracker-like parcels. Taking hold of the ends, I roll each log up and down the work surface a few times to get them even smoother.

You’ll need to chill the dough in the fridge for thirty minutes. This will make it easier to cut without squidging your nice cylindrical shape. If you’re inclined, turn the logs over halfway through to prevent the underside flattening (I usually forget). If convenient, you can chill for a longer period or even freeze.

When ready to bake, unwrap the dough logs and get yourself a sharp knife.

Simply cut off slices to form round shortbread biscuits. For a crisper biscuit, cut them approximately half a centimetre thick. For a more traditional, tender shortbread, slice the log at one-centimetre intervals.

BAKING ORANGE SHORTBREAD BISCUITS

Place your Orange Shortbread Biscuits one large or two regular sized baking trays. Leave space for them to spread a little. If you like, sprinkle over a pinch of sugar to give slightly textured tops, then pop into your preheated oven.

They should take between fifteen and twenty minutes to get cooked through and lightly golden brown. Thinner biscuits will cook a little faster than chunkier ones.

When done, the biscuits may still feel a little soft. Just leave on the tray for a couple of minutes to settle.

Then transfer the shortbreads to a cooling rack where they’ll firm up more.

If you can resist eating them all straight away, transfer to an airtight container when completely cold.

EASY SWEET TREAT

These gorgeous little biscuits never last more than a day or so in our house. But Orange Shortbread Biscuits should be fine for up to three days.

We eat them as a sweet treat after a meal or as a snack with a cuppa.

I think they’d be equally good alongside softer desserts like panna cotta or even ice cream. Foodie friends and family will love you forever if you gifted them some.

The possibilities for adapting the basic recipe are endless. Here’s a few ideas to get you started.

• Once completely cold, drizzle over melted dark or white chocolate
• Add chopped chocolate and hazelnuts for Chocolate Hazelnut Shortbread Biscuits
• Replace the orange zest with lemon zest plus lemon extract if you like
• Drizzle with a simple icing of icing sugar mixed with orange or lemon juice and a little extra zest

• Replace the optional orange extract with almond or vanilla extract
• Substitute the zest with 2 tsp of crushed pink peppercorns
• Add spices such as fennel seeds, or ground cinnamon, ginger, or cardamom
• Whizz finely chopped dried fruit into the dough e.g., cherries, cranberries, raisins, apricots

I hope you love these elegant little biscuits as much as I do.

For such little effort, the rewards are enormous. And delicious!

HAVE YOU MADE THIS RECIPE?

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Orange Shortbread Biscuits

Easy, light and buttery shortbread biscuits with the taste of orange.

Enjoy with a cuppa, or alongside soft desserts like panna cotta and ice cream. They make a wonderful gift too.

Course Snack, Biscuit

Cuisine British, Scottish

Keyword baking, easy

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Chill dough in the fridge 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 30 small biscuits approx (more if cut thinner)

Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

• 225 g plain flour
• 70 g sugar plus extra for sprinkling (optional)
• 1 pinch salt
• 140 g butter roughly diced
• 3 medium-large oranges zest only
• 1 tsp orange extract optional (see Recipe Notes)

Instructions

1. Line 1 large or 2 regular sized baking trays with baking or greaseproof paper.

2. Use a zester or fine grater to remove the zest from the oranges.

3. Put the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and whizz briefly to combine.

   Add the butter and process again until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

   Add the orange zest (plus the orange extract if using) then process until a dough starts to form. Don't be tempted to add water: keep processing and the mixture will come together into a smooth, pliable dough.

4. Put the dough onto a clean worksurface or silicone mat, briefly knead to bring it together into a small ball, then divide in two.

   Roll each piece into a cylinder 3 - 4 cm in diameter and flatten the ends.

   Wrap each cylinder in a piece of cling film, twisting the ends to close (like a Christmas cracker). Holding the ends of the cling film, roll each cylinder up and down the work surface a few times to get it smoother.

5. Put the dough cylinders in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up. If you remember to do it, turning a few times will prevent a flat underside

   Can be chilled for longer or frozen if needed.

   Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 170 C / 150 C Fan / Gas 3.

6. Remove the dough from the fridge and unwrap.

   Take a sharp knife and cut off slices 5mm - 1cm thick: thinner will give you crisper biscuits, thicker for traditional, more tender shortbread.

   Transfer to the prepared baking trays, leaving space for them to spread a little, and sprinkle each biscuit with a pinch of sugar if liked.

   Biscuits can also be frozen at this stage.

7. Put the trays into the oven.

   Bake until the biscuits are lightly golden and cooked all the way through. This should take 15- 20 minutes, depending on how thick you cut them.

   Note that they may still be a little soft until cooler.

8. Leave the biscuits to cool on the tray for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely and firm up.

   When cold, store in an airtight container.

   Best eaten within 2-3 days.

Recipe Notes

Even if you don't have orange extract, these biscuits will still taste good with the generous amount of orange zest in the recipe.

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