If there is one thing I love eating during the festive season, it’s shortbread. Though the shop bought stuff is tasty, I do love to make my own as it is so simple and fills the house with tempting smells; it’s hard not to eat it straight from the oven! I have to say, it doesn’t last long though; it’s just so moreish, isn’t it?

Leisure Cookers have asked me to put a Christmas twist on one of my favourite recipes, to coincide with the Tribe to Table foodie trends. Being a keen baker, I chose the sugar free baking trend; saying that, this recipe isn’t completely sugar free, but refined sugar free instead, as honey replaces the usual sugar.

I turned to my go to shortbread recipe and thought about how I could make it refined sugar free. Obviously I wanted it to still be sweet, and honey is a store cupboard staple that is deliciously so with a very distinctive flavour. I was a bit dubious as to how it would work in the shortbread, but after some research as to how to replace sugar with honey in a recipe, I managed to get a pretty good shortbread dough.

The shortbread still tastes sweet, buttery, and crumbly; but instead of an overly sweet sugary taste, it has a delicious honeyed flavour. Whilst shopping I actually discovered honey with a hint of cinnamon, and I thought that would be a great Christmas twist. The cinnamon flavour is just noticeable in the shortbread, but there is such a distinctive taste of honey that I think I will actually use this recipe in future; it’s delightful!

Ingredients (makes 20-24)

• 125g soft butter
• 70g Rowse’s honey with a hint of cinnamon (or you could just use normal runny honey)
• 180g plain flour
• pinch of baking powder

Method

• Preheat oven to gas 4/180c/350f, and line a tray with baking paper.
• Beat the butter and honey until smooth and creamy.
• Mix in the flour and baking powder to create a smooth dough. I find getting my hands stuck in is the best way!
• The dough will be a little sticky so form into a rectangle block, wrap in cling film, and refrigerate for around 15 minutes.
• Remove the dough from the fridge, unwrap, then on a lightly floured surface, roll out until around 1cm thickness.
• Cut into fingers (or rounds if you wish!), make a pattern with a fork if you fancy it, then space evenly on the baking tray. Chill for another 20 minutes.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until starting to turn golden brown. They may still be a little soft to the touch, but will harden while cooling.
• Remove from the tray onto a wire rack and leave to cool. (And find it hard to resist eating immediately).
• Enjoy!