with Tangerine Zest

The perfect shortbread cookie recipe is here. We chose poppy seeds and tangerine zest this time, but the basis of this shortbread lends itself to endless creative twists. Think rosemary pistachio with lemon zest. Or try hazelnut chocolate, or black and white sesame, or simply orange or lime zested shortbread. Once again, we give you the goods, and you take it from there.

In our recipe, we used Miyuoko's vegan butter, and made toasted almond flour to take the place of half of the regular flour. We also made our own powdered sugar from organic raw sugar, but any granular sugar will do, if you choose to make your own. Creating the almond flour and powdered  sugar are fun, simple tasks that only take a quick zip in a "coffee" grinder, blender, or Cuisinart to accomplish.

Crispy on the edges and crumbly to perfection, throw the kettle on and get ready to dunk. This delicious recipe is a one bowl wonder that comes together quickly and will keep you coming back to create new versions, again and again.

Ingredients
makes about 15-20 cookies

1 stick vegan or organic dairy butter
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 large organic egg yolk
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup poppy seeds
zest of 2 tangerines
1/2 cup lightly toasted almond flour
1/2 cup organic flour

Recipe

Cream butter in a medium size bowl. Add powdered sugar and blend until smooth. Beat in the egg yolk. Add vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Fold in poppy seeds and tangerine zest. Sift in toasted almond flour and lightly combine. Do the same with the regular flour. Don't over mix. Turn your dough onto a sheet of parchment paper or saran and gently roll into a log. It doesn't matter how perfect, just get your shape started, then place the wrapped dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. If you find your dough is too soft for rolling into a log, just form a ball and place it in the fridge for the first half hour. After thirty minutes, roll your dough into a log about 1" thick, wrap again and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice cookies about 1/3" thick and place on a cookie sheet a few inches apart. Bake for about 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Perfection.

*Powdered sugar: Place 1/3 of a cup of granulated sugar in a clean coffee or nut grinder (easiest method), blender, or Cuisinart and pulse until you have a smooth powder. Store bought powdered sugar typically contains corn starch to keep it from clumping. It is not a necessary or recommended addition here. You will likely use just a bit less of the total powdered sugar created by breaking down the 1/3 cup of granulated sugar. Still, best to start with enough granulated to get you where you want to end up.

*Toasted almond flour: Toast 1/2 cup raw almonds in a dry pan over a low heat or slowly in the oven until almonds are lightly toasted.  Place almonds on a plate or cutting board to cool. Put cooled almonds into your same grinder of choice and pulse until it becomes a medium grain powder. Don't overfill the grinder. It's better to do it in two rounds if using a small grinder or your almonds could turn into toasted almond butter.