Red and Black Currant Shortbread

We still have great strings of redcurrants hanging from the bush in our garden.

I made a couple more bottles of cordial which are now in the fridge (see earlier post for recipe).

We’ve frozen some.

And so I thought I better come up with another idea to use them.

I thought of a German redcurrant meringue shortbread but I still haven’t got my head around how to make vegan meringues.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered a friend talking about making shortbread and using the mixture as a sandwich for blackcurrants.

So with a little inspiration from this blog I came up with this recipe.

Scandinavian touch

It worked really well.

I love the unique perfume and taste of the cardamom.

The spice is used a lot in Scandinavian pastries and cakes.

You could add an extra teaspoon of it if you like.

The fruit is tart and the shortbread is sweet but not too sweet.

5 from 1 vote

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Red and Blackcurrant Shortcake

Prep Time

30 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Total Time

1 hr

 

Course: Dessert

Servings: 12

Author: Cath

Ingredients

• 350 g plain, white flour
• 250 g vegan margarine or spread
• 120 g golden granulated sugar
• 3 tsp ground cardamom
• 60 g ground almonds
• A pinch salt
• 300 g redcurrants and blackcurrants cleaned and desprigged

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 celsius (350F or Gas Mark 4)

2. Sieve flour into big bowl and add a pinch of salt 

3. Add margarine and rub in until it resembles breadcrumbs

4. Add ground cardamom seeds (the little brown and black very hard seeds inside the pods) and sugar  and amalgamate well

5. Press half the mixture into the bottom of a 8 or 9 inch cake or tart tin (preferably with a loose bottom) greased and lined with parchment or greaseproof paper and lightly prick with a fork

6. Put in the oven for 10 minutes and then remove

7. Pour a mixture of red and black currants onto cooked shortbread base

8. Add ground almonds to remainder of shortbread mixture and mix well before pressing evenly on top of currants

9. Put whole thing back into the oven for another 15 - 20 minutes until golden brown

10. Remove and leave on rack to cool - mark out into slices and eat