Coffee and Walnut Shortbread

A shortbread for coffee lovers. Because I did not have coffee powder, I used instant coffee granules and 'squashed'them in my flour sieve. I added 1 teaspoon of coffee emulco for the extra fragrance.



Ingredients:
250g butter, cubed
1 cup icing sugar
2 cups plain flour
1 cup cornflour
2 tbsp coffee powder
30 walnut halves

Method:
1. Place butter and icing sugar into a large bowl. Beat together with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Sift flours and coffee together. Stir into creamed mixture to form a soft dough.

2. Form dough into walnut-size rounds. Arrange on lightly-greased baking trays, leaving room for biscuits to spread. Flatten biscuits slightly. Prick with a fork. Top with walnuts.

3. Bake in a slow oven (150C) for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden. Serve with espresso coffee if desired. Store in an airtight container.

Variation 1
Replace the walnuts with hazelnuts, pecans, almonds or macadamia nuts if preferred.
Variation 2
Drizzle some melted dark or milk chocolate over cooled biscuits to achieve a tasty and attractive effect. Or dip half of each bisuit into melted chocolate. Allow excess chocolate to drip off, the place onto baking paper-lined trays to set.

Makes about 30