Many months ago in the local Arab market, we found these moulds. I am not sure what they use them for but they looked like a great option for making fancy shortbread so we bought a couple. We decided while we were making our usual Danish Xmas biscuits, we'd try a batch and they worked a treat. Aren't they just beautiful?
Interestingly, we decided to use my granny's old Lofty Peak baking book. I'm not sure when it dates from, but my guess would be 1950s or 60s.
It's quaintly written, using words like amalgamate which isn't exactly the most common word in today's recipe books. And of course, it has ounces and oven temperatures are given in either Regulo or Fahrenheit, but the most interesting thing was the end result. Firstly, it was darker in colour than today's standard shortbread, which is interesting as I always thought, growing up, that I was rubbish at making shortbread. I always felt I burnt it, but maybe it just was darker back then. But the most surprising thing was the taste. It was only half as sweet as anything you can buy today. And we followed it to the letter. So it appears we have trained our palates to expect biscuits to be sweeter and sweeter, instead of realising they are actually quite pleasant with so much less sugar. Over the holidays, I have definitely enjoyed these more than many of the sweeter ones we usually make.
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