Cit­rus Shortbread

1 cup/225 grams unsalt­ed butter

1/2 cup/110 grams granulated/caster sugar

1 1/2 cup/225 grams plain flour

1 cup/110 grams cornstarch/cornflour

pinch sea salt

zest of 1 large orange

zest of 1 lemon

Beat but­ter and sug­ar togeth­er until light and fluffy.  Mix flours and salt, then grad­u­al­ly sift them into the but­ter mix­ture, beat­ing until you’ve achieved a stiff but soft dough.  Add half the zest to the sur­face of the dough, then knead it into the dough, turn the dough over and over and add the remain­ing zest, knead­ing until the zest is well-incorporated.

Place the dough between two sheets of bak­ing parch­ment and roll it out until it’s as thin as you’d like: the cook­ies stay basi­cal­ly as thick when baked as they are when raw.  Remove the top lay­er of paper and prick the dough all over with a sharp fork.  With a cook­ie cut­ter or piz­za cut­ter, cut the dough into the shapes you’d like.  Re-roll scrap­py bits and cut again.  My last sev­er­al cook­ies were just nice blobs.

Han­dling the cook­ies as lit­tle as pos­si­ble (my hands are very warm!), lift them with a very thin spat­u­la off the paper onto a cook­ie sheet.

Heat your oven to 340F/170C.  Place the cook­ie sheet in the mid­dle of the oven and bake for about 20 min­utes.  Cool on a rack and then store in an air­tight container.