Hawthorn Shortbread Cookies
A little wild, a little romantic, and very delicious. These pretty pink cookies are a dreamy (and simple!) way to bake with hawthorn berries.
Servings: 22 cookies
Ingredients
Hawthorn juice*
- 4 cups fresh hawthorn berries
- 2 cups water
- pinch of salt
Shortbread cookies
- 8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter very soft
- ½ teaspoon salt
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar sifted
- 1 ¾ cups (220 grams) all purpose flour
Hawthorn glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar sifted
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2-3 tablespoons hawthorn juice
Instructions
- Make the hawthorn juice: Combine cleaned hawthorn berries, pinch of salt, and water in a large, heavy-bottomed sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to a low simmer and cook the berries, stirring often, until they burst and break down, about 15-20 minutes.Pour mixture through a jelly bag or colander lined with cheesecloth set over a large bowl and leave to drip for a while. Once the mixture has stopped dripping and is cool enough to handle, squeeze well to extract as much juice as possible. Discard fruit pulp & seeds. Pour hawthorn juice into a clean jar and keep refrigerated until ready to use.
- Make the cookie dough: Cream 8 oz very soft butter for a minute, until creamy and lump-free. Add the ½ tsp salt, zest of 1 lemon, and 1 tsp vanilla until light and fluffy, then blend in the ⅓ cup powdered sugar. Mix in 1 ¾ cups/220 grams flour just until a soft dough forms.
- Roll the dough: Pat the dough into a rough disc and roll between two pieces of parchment paper to about ¼ inch thickness. (Unless the dough is sticking to the parchment, don't add extra flour. Too much flour can make the cookies tough.)
- Chill briefly: Chill for 15-30 minutes in the refrigerator. This makes it easier to cut nice, clean shapes.
- Cut and chill again: Cut into shapes using a cookie cutter, biscuit cutter, pastry wheel or sharp knife**. Gently move cookies to baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing them at least an inch apart. Chill shaped cookies in the refrigerator or freezer for another 30 minutes. This is important! It helps the cookies hold their shape during baking.
- Bake: Preheat the oven to 325° F and bake just until the edges are set, about 12-15 minutes, depending on size. The bottoms should be lightly golden brown but the tops should still be pale. Cool completely.
- Make the hawthorn glaze: Whisk together 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, 1 tsp lemon juice, and 2 Tbsp hawthorn juice. Add more hawthorn juice as needed until you have a glaze that's smooth and pourable, but still thick enough that it won't run off the cookies.
- Decorate: Drizzle/spoon the glaze over the cooled cookies. Decorate with edible flowers or sprinkles if you like!
Notes
*Hawthorn juice: Make as much or as little juice as you like, depending on how else you plan to use it. This is the batch size I make almost every year, and it typically yields about 1 cup of slightly thick juice. You can use the juice for drinks (it's very nutritious!) and other dessert and baking recipes, or freeze in ice cube trays for later.
**Cutting the cookies: Cut into any size and shape you like! Here, I used a 2.5 inch biscuit cutter. If your cookies are much larger, adjust the baking time as needed. You can see my other shortbread cookie recipes for alternative shapes.
To clean hawthorn berries: I like to fill a large bowl with 2 parts cold water and 1 part vinegar. Dump your fresh hawthorn berries in, swirl them around a bit, and let sit for 15-30 minutes. This will help encourage any "little friends" to come wiggling out if there are any in there, plus it gets rids of a much of dirt and debris. Scoop berries out with a slotted spoon into a colander over the sink, then rinse well.
For more information on finding, identifying, preparing, and using hawthorn berries, so my complete hawthorn guide.