Lemon Poppyseed Shortbread

Shortbread always used to puzzle me – as a kid it seemed far more exciting to go for something richly chocolate or raspberry or creamy, not a dry square of short bread (what a name!) with no added flavor. Who in their right mind would choose such a thing over a brownie? Very very recently, upon the discovery of incredibly good butter (once you taste it you can’t go back), I reneged on my avoidance campaign of the crumbly British dessert and jumped on the shortbread train. This was particularly helpful as well because shortbread is remarkably easy to make gluten free. Many recipes, Scottish shortbread specifically, even add in rice flour to contribute to the crumbly texture. Who knew that the classic bane of gluten free baked goods could be taken advantage of in these cookies!

Now, you could use this recipe to make entirely decent plain shortbread, but why not toss in extra flavors if you have such a perfect base? As long as you’re using that incredibly good butter, you’re well-prepared to churn out delicious shortbread with any add-ins you choose. We went for lemon poppyseed in this case – inspired by our mom’s fantastic lemon poppyseed muffins – but really anything works! One day we’ll host a massive shortbread taste testing party with maybe a dozen flavors (rosemary, raspberry, lavender blueberry…).

In short – use shortbread as you ultimate gluten free staple, fit for any flavors or fixings. The recipe is insanely straight forward and the ingredients list is shorter than most, so you have no excuse not to toss a batch in the oven tonight, or this morning even. Bake whenever you get the urge!

Print Recipe

Gluten Free Lemon Poppyseed Shortbread

Bar-like shortbread with intense lemon poppyseed flavor

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Keyword: bars, cookies, lemon, poppyseed, shortbread

Servings: 12 bars

Calories: 100kcal

Author: Amelia Farber

Equipment

• 9×9 inch pan

Ingredients

• 2 Cups gluten free flour 1-1 mix with xanthan gum
• 2/3 Cup white sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 Cup salted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 Tbsp poppyseeds

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 325° Fahrenheit, no need to grease the pan, but use either a 9×9 square, 8×8 square, or pie pan. If using a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, and salt, then add in the butter and lemon zest and pulse until dough comes together. Dump mixture into a bowl and knead in the poppyseeds by hand until fully distributed. If mixing by hand, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and zest, then add in chunks of cold butter and knead them in until fully combined. Add in poppyseeds and knead until distributed.
• Dump dough into your pan and press down until even (be sure to fill the entire pan, up to the corners). Bake 40 minutes for a 9×9 pan, or about 45-50 minutes for an 8×8 or pie pan. Let the shortbread cool a bit before cutting (in the pan) and carefully lifting out each shortbread slice!

Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your toffee bars!

Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber