Today I am featuring a recipe that my grandmother was famous for. They are a universal favourite –the melting moment, or yo-yo. A shortbread that always, always receives compliments and requests for the recipe. My grandma used a secret ingredient – that of custard powder, to give the shortbreads a vanilla, soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
Usually I save this recipe for the Christmas period. They are simple and quick to make, and so fail-proof, they’re fantastically seasonal. However, faced with some grapefruits gifted to me by my neighbour, and wanting to bake something different with them, I decided to jazz up my grandma’s shortbread recipe with a new twist.
An unexpected combination: grapefruit, shortbread and marshmallow, but if you make the recipe below, I think you will find that it works like a charm!
Grapefruit shortbread with marshmallow icing
Ingredients
For the shortbreads:
- 120g unsalted butter, softened
- 60g caster sugar
- 60g custard powder
- 120g plain flour
- Zest of one grapefruit
For the icing:
- 30g butter
- Juice of one grapefruit
- 130g marshmallows
- ¼ cup caster sugar
Directions
- Preheat oven to 180° Celsius. Grease a baking tray with spray oil.
- Cream butter and sugar with beaters or a stand mixer until light and fluffy.
- Add custard powder, flour and grapefruit zest, and beat until mixture forms a dough.
- Using a rolling pin, roll dough until it is approximately ½ cm thick. You may need to dust the worktop and the rolling pin with a little extra flour so that it doesn’t stick.
- Use a 4cm diameter scone cutter to cut the biscuits. Continue to roll out the dough until it is all used.
- Place the biscuits on the tray and bake in the oven for 15-20 mins or until golden. Once baked, leave on the tray for 5 mins to cool, and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the icing, melt the butter, grapefruit juice and marshmallows in a small saucepan on a low heat. Once melted and combined, add the sugar and continue to cook and stir until sugar has dissolved.
- Place the icing into a clean bowl and put into the fridge for at least an hour to cool and set. The icing should become sticky and not run off a spoon.
- Once the icing is sticky, spoon it into a piping bag and pipe onto the cooled biscuits. Leave to cool and set completely.
pumpkin and pear 
Wow what an interesting flavour to have in shortbread. It looks amazing! (:
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Thank you! Yes unexpected flavours, but really yummy! Especially with the sticky marshmallow topping 🙂
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