Makes 12
INGREDIENTS
120g soft salted butter (dairy or plant based)
110g icing sugar
185g plain flour*
1 tsp of baking powder
25g cinder toffee - broken into chunks
50g milk or dark chocolate - cut into chunks
(or use some Crunchie bar)
*For gluten free use 220g of a GF plain flour mix plus 1/2 tsp xanthan gum.
HOW TO:
Set the oven to 150ºc fan.
To a large bowl, add the butter, it should be softened to the consistency of something like hummus.
Add the icing sugar to the butter and mix the two together, there’s no need to whip or incorporate any air. The butter should be soft enough that you can easily combine them with a spatula.
Add the flour and baking powder (and the xanthan gum if making gluten free). Mix the dry ingredients into the butter with a table knife. Use the table knife to chop in the flour rather than squishing it in, this will keep the crumble light and fluffy rather than clumping in large pieces. The gluten free dough will be clumpier because it absorbs moisture differently to wheat flour, but it will bake perfectly well.
Line a large baking sheet with non-stick baking paper.
Sit a 6.5cm, straight sided cookie cutter on the sheet and spoon 2 tablespoon measures of the crumble into the ring. Use the tbsp to lightly tamp the crumble into the ring, concentrating on making a slight dip in the middle. Don’t compact the crumble too fiercely, the oven will fuse it together.
Add a teaspoon of crumbled cinder toffee and a few chocolate chunks to the central dip of the base and then scatter over another tbsp of crumble. Don’t tamp the topping crumble. Carefully lift the biscuit cutter off the cookie and repeat the process until you have made all 12.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 14 minutes or until you can see the shortbread has very slightly puffed and the crumble around the edge has fused together. Some of the cinder toffee will bubble through the crumble topping but don’t let the shortbread colour. If it is, drop the oven temperature by 10ºc.
Leave the cookies to cool completely on their tray before you lift them, otherwise you risk them crumbling prematurely, particularly the gluten free ones.
Tuck in!
Oh my. How delicious. Love the gluten free option. Thank you for that!