Ingredients
- 110g icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tbs vanilla bean paste
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 225g butter, diced
- 380g plain flour
- 1 tbs icing sugar, for dusting
- ½ tbs ground cinnamon, for dusting
- ½ tbs ground nutmeg, for dusting
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/gas 4.
- Place the icing sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter in a mixer with the paddle attached and mix until smooth. Add the flour and mix until a rough dough comes together.
- Place the dough on a sheet of flour-dusted parchment paper and fold the dough and parchment over on itself. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rough rectangle approximately two centimetres thick all over. Place this on a tray and leave to rest in the fridge for one hour.
- In the meantime, line a baking tray with a sheet of parchment paper. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and peel back the baking parchment. Use your choice of cookie-cutter shapes and press them into the dough. Then carefully lift them on to the baking tray with a spatula and press them out of the cutters.
- Repeat until the tray is full, leaving a small gap between each piece of shortbread on the tray. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until lightly golden, then remove and allow to cool on a wire rack.
- Mix the icing sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a small bowl. Then spoon into a small sieve and dust the shortbread with the sugar and spice blend before serving.
