Michelle Darmody: How to bake raspberry shortbread bars and the mistakes to avoid

I suggest raspberry jam in this recipe as it is one of my favourites, is generally a crowd pleaser and is quite versatile.

These bars are made in a slightly unusual way. 

You make your shortbread pastry, freeze it for a few hours then using the large holes on a box grater, grate the dough from frozen.

Having gently spread the grated dough into your baking tin, air pockets form throughout the bars as it bakes, creating a melt in your mouth texture and buttery, crumbly base and topping. 

This technique has long been a trick of pastry chefs in restaurant kitchens, and is a relatively easy to do at home.

Grated shortbread is also used in a Hungarian pastry called omlós teasütemény and in that recipe they use the shortbread to sandwich a layer of jam. These bars are a nod to that dessert.

I suggest raspberry jam in this recipe as it is one of my favourites, is generally a crowd pleaser and is quite versatile.

You can add additional flavour to the jam such as a dash of orange blossom water, rose water or elderflower.

All these wonderful floral flavours elevate the raspberry jam, and turn your crumbly shortbread bars into something quite special.

Raspberry Shortbread

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

I suggest raspberry jam in this recipe as it is one of my favourites, is generally a crowd pleaser and is quite versatile.

Servings

20

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 40 mins

Total Time

 60 mins

Course

 Dessert

Ingredients

• 325g plain flour

• 200g butter, cold and cut into small cubes

• 125g golden caster sugar

• 2 egg yolks, from large eggs

• 2 tsp orange zest

• 200g raspberry jam

Method

1. 1. To make the dough, rub the butter into the flour until it forms rough breadcrumbs.

2. 2. Stir the sugar into the egg yolks and add this to the flour mixture.

3. 3. Combine the two mixtures, you do not need to overmix.

4. 4. Tip the dough onto some parchment, wrap it up and place it into the freezer until it it has completely frozen through

5. 5. Line a 9x11 inch baking tin with parchment.

6. 6. Preheat your oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.

7. 7. Remove your dough from the freezer.

8. 8. Using the side of your box grater with the largest holes grate half of the dough.

9. 9. Spread the grated dough on the base of the prepared tin. Do not pack it down.

10. 10. Gently spread the jam on top.

11. 11. Place this into the fridge while you grate the rest of the dough.

12. 12. Sprinkle the second lots of grated dough evenly on top of the jam, again do not press it down.

13. 13. Bake for 35 minutes until the top is golden.

14. 14. Allow to cool in the tin and then slice into whatever size bars you wish.

Bakers' Tips:

• I use a box grater in this recipe, but you can just as easily use a food processor with a grater attachment. It will speed up the process.
• You can divide the dough into two blocks before freezing so you have the base and then the topping ready to go. The dough needs to be fully frozen to grate well so I would usually leave it in the freezer overnight.
• Grate the first half of the frozen dough directly into a baking tin. When grating the dough for the top layer I find it best to grate it onto a plate rather than onto the already prepared jam layer. I do this for several reasons, you may accidentally lean the grater on the jam or dough pressing it down, or it may not grate into an even layer on the top. Sprinkling it from the plate evenly onto the jam layer works best.
• Even though you might be tempted to pack the base layer, do not pack it down. The jam and next layer of dough will automatically do this for you. Do not pack down the top layer of grated dough either; it will come together as it bakes and melts, keeping those little air pockets for texture.
• The dough can be kept in the freezer for 2-3 months and used when needed. Once baked, keep the bars in an airtight container in a cool place and eat within three days.

Three delicious variations:

Lemon shortbread bars

• You can substitute the jam for lemon curd and follow the recipe as is.
• If you really love a lemon flavour you can replace the orange zest with lemon zest in the shortbread dough.

Blackberry shortbread bars

• There are still a few blackberries to be found on bushes.
• You can make a version using up your blackberries or with blackberry jam. 
• I would often mash about 60g of blackberries into 140g of blackberry jam.
• This gives a nice tartness to the jam and adds a bounce of fresh flavour.
• It is delicious with the shortbread.

Hazelnut choc-chip shortbread biscuits

• If you want to use this dough to make biscuits, you can add 50g of chocolate chips and 50g of chopped hazelnuts to the dough at the last step.
• You can then roll the dough into a log before wrapping the log in baking parchment and popping it into the fridge or freezer.
• If freezing, take the log out of the freezer for about two hours to soften, before slicing the dough into rounds with a knife that has been dipped into hot water.
• You can bake the biscuits for about 10-15 mins at the same oven temperature.