Redcurrant Shortbread Bars With Lemon
I made my first batch of these for the recent Dublin Tea Up [1] and they were popular enough that people asked whether the recipe was on the blog (’tis now). While I thought that the first batch was good, the second batch (which I made to coincide with the Irish bloggers Twookieparty [2]) was even better. That is the version you will find below.
And the difference in the second version? Why, more lemon zest of course.
For the shortbread:
- 150g butter
- 75g caster sugar
- 150g plain flour
- 75g cornmeal
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- pinch of salt
For the filling:
- 250g redcurrants, washed
- 3 large eggs
- 100g caster sugar
- 4 tblsps plain flour
- pinch of salt
- 1 tblsp lemon zest (zest of about 1 lemon)
- icing sugar to serve (optional)
You’ll also need:
- A shallow rectangular baking tin – mine was 27cm x 18cm x 4cm deep – and a sieve for mashing the redcurrants.
The Shortbread Steps:
- Preheat your oven to 150C.
- Whisk the flour, cornmeal, ground ginger and salt together in a medium-sized bowl.
- In a separate bowl, beat the butter until soft, then add the sugar and continue beating until smooth (or use a food processor or stand mixer to do the beating for you).
- Add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar and mix until it is pebbly and, when pressed, will hold together as a dough
- Press the mixture into your baking tin and smooth the surface so that it is fairly even.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until just lightly golden.
- Leave to cool in the tin for about 20 minutes while you make the filling and keep the oven on at 150C.
The Filling Steps:
- Place the redcurrants in a sieve over a medium-sized bowl and, using a large spoon or spatula, mash them well against the sieve to release their juice – 250g redcurrants should yield around 175ml juice.
- In a large bowl (or using a stand mixer or food processor) whisk the eggs, then beat in the sugar.
- Add the flour and salt and whisk until there are no lumps remaining, then whisk in the redcurrant juice and lemon zest.
- Pour the filling over the shortbread crust and bake for about 15 minutes or until the filling is set and does not jiggle when you tap the baking tin.
- Allow to cool in the tin and then slice into squares or bars. Sift some icing sugar over the bars just before serving if you like.
The Variations:
- Though I haven’t tried it, I imagine that you could substitute an equivalent amount of raspberry juice for the redcurrant juice.
The Results:
- Makes around 54 x 3cm squares