1. Scrumptious Shortbread

2. Ingredients: 150g plain flour, 100g butter or margarine, 50g caster sugar. Optional extras: stem ginger, grated lemon or orange rind, poppy seeds, chopped cashew nuts

3. Pre-heat the oven, Gas mark 3 / 170°C.

4. 1. Grease a 20cm square cake tin.

5. 2. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl.

6. 3. Chop up the butter and add to the flour.

7. 4. Rub the fat into the flour using fingertips, until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.

8. 5. Add the sugar and any optional ingredients
5. Add the sugar and any optional ingredients. Here I’ve added 25g chopped stem ginger.

9. 6. Work the mixture firmly with the fingertips until it starts to stick together.

10. 7. Press it together into a ball.

11. 8. Press the dough into the greased tin.

12. 9. Level off the surface with the back of a tablespoon.

13. 10. Prick all over with a fork and bake for about 30 minutes – Gas 3 / 170°C.

14. 11. When cooked it should be a pale golden colour
11. When cooked it should be a pale golden colour. Mark into 9 squares and leave to cool in the tin.

15. FoodForum, 2007
12. If you wish, you can sprinkle a little caster sugar on the top before serving.