Homebaked Shortbread: NESTUM Shortbreads with Jam

In today’s post, I decided to something different for a change.

Just in case you might not know, baking cookies had been my passion since a few years back when I had started to bake Cashew Cookies from scratch.

Imagine that without any knowledge of baking, I had to depend on websites to teach me how to bake Cashew Cookies like a baby.

Thinking back now, I had realized that baking requires your interest, passion and NEVER GIVE UP motivation in order to bake wonderful and tasty cookies.

Today, I will try Nestum Hazelnut Shortbread for a change.

By adding Nestum cereal into the shortbreads, it gives extra fibre and richer texture plus crumbly too.

Hazelnuts are toasted and chopped before adding to the shortbread dough, but if you are out of hazelnuts, you could replace the nuts with cashew nuts, ground nuts, pecans or almonds.

Shortbread is a little different from the regular cookies.

Differences Between Cookies and Shortbreads

#Ingredients

Cookies Ingredients: Plain flour, baking powder, eggs, vanilla, butter, sugar

Shortbread Ingredients: Plain flour, custard flour, butter, sugar, sometimes an egg but rarely

#Baking Process

The baking process for cookies varies, depending on the texture of the dough.

Soft dough- drop cookies onto the baking tray

Firm dough- divide dough into several portions, roll up into balls and flatten

Semi-firm dough- stamp with cookie cutters, glazed with egg yolk and bake

However, shortbreads are standard, just use the cookie cutter, stamp them and bake

#Taste

You may noticed that there is a huge difference in the taste itself.

Cookies are crumbly if eggs are added to the dough. They are thinner than shortbreads and baked faster too.

Shortbreads are thicker and has more buttery taste compare to cookies.

Furthermore, shortbreads stick to your teeth when you take a bite.

Cookies usuallymelt in your mouth

Why bake shortbreads

Honestly, I have not seen bakery shops selling shortbreads because they are not well sought by consumers.

Instead, homebaked shortbreads are popular among my friends and my household because they are rarely baked and tasted different from the regular cookies.

Shortbreads are easily prepared and baking time is shorter than cookies.

One thing I love about shortbreads is you are make thumbprint cookies or decorate with sugar icing which is popular among kids.

Plain looking shortbreads are as tasty as any other butter cookies in the market.

Let us get to the Nestum Hazelnut Shortbread Recipe Now !

Ingredients to prepare:

5 cup plain flour
1/2 cup custard powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup NESTUM cereal
1/2 cup ground toasted hazelnuts
150g butter-unsalted
100g fine sugar
1 egg Grade A
1 tsp vanilla essence
Any flavor of jam you prefer

Method of baking:

Sift together plain flour, custard powder and baking powder in a big mixing bowl.
Stir in NESTUm cereal and ground tasted hazelnuts.
Mix well.
In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar until creamy.
Beat in egg and vanilla essence until well blended.
Fold in the sieved flour mixture, mix with a stainless steel fork until all ingredients are well combined.
It will formed a soft dough. Wrap up in a plastic wrapper ( cling wrapper ) chill in fridge for 20min.
Sprinkle a little flour over flat surface ( chopping board ), roll out the dough.
Decide on the thickness of your shortbreads, recommended 3mm
Use any shape cookie cutter, dip into flour before stamping into the dough.
Transfer the shortbread into the baking tray, lined with baking paper lightly greased.
Use a circular shape thing to stamp the middle. Spread your favorite jam in the middle of each shortbreads.
Nake in preheat oven for 20min at 180C or until golden brown.
Remove from the oven, allow to cool off before storing in air tight container.
Use the baking paper to separate each layer in order to separate the shortbreads from sticking to each other .