Lemon, Thyme & Blood Orange Shortbread Biscuits

The feeling of spring is lingering in the air and the sun is peeking out of the clouds, so I thought it was time to bake a bit of sunshine too.
These are like little parcels of citrus sitting in a thyme shortbread. I had some blood orange curd leftover from my Blood Orange Baby Cakes and knew instantly that I wanted to make some sandwich biscuits. The shortbread has a little ground almond in it to keep the texture short all while holding its shape. The pretty pink icing on top brings memories of party rings from my childhood. These are such a treat and perfect with a cuppa.

Ingredients - Makes 20
Shortbread:
225g unsalted butter, softened
115g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 blood orange
a few sprigs of thyme
285g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
60g ground almonds

Blood Orange Curd:
80ml blood orange juice, approx. 2-3 ripe blood oranges
2 eggs
105g caster sugar
7g cornflour
165g unsalted butter, room temperature

Blood Orange Icing:
100g icing sugar, sieved
4 tsp blood orange juice (1 blood orange)
1/4 tsp vanilla paste

Please note: I don’t recommend making these in advance. They should be served on the day they’re filled with curd or the moisture from the curd will leak into the icing. If you want to prep in advance, I would leave them dipped but not filled until you’re ready to serve.

Method
The day before:
For the blood orange curd: whisk together the blood orange juice, eggs, sugar and cornflour in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally when cold but constantly when hot. Continue to cook until the curd starts to bubble. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter. Pour into a jug and blend using a hand blender. Cover with clingfilm, pressing it against the surface of the curd so that it doesn’t form a skin. Chill in the fridge overnight.

For the shortbread: lightly cream together the butter, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest and blood orange zest. Strip the leaves off of the thyme sprigs and add into the butter, along with the dry ingredients. Mix until a dough is formed before tipping it out onto the worktop and kneading a few times until you have a smooth ball. Divide the dough in half and roll it to approx. 3mm thick. Cut the dough into 5x5cm squares and transfer them onto a parchment lined baking tray. Repeat with the remaining dough. Using a small circular cutter, cut out a hole in the middle of half of the squares. Wrap the tray with clingfilm and refrigerate overnight.

The day of assembly:
Pre-heat the oven to 160°C. Line a few shallow baking trays with baking paper and lay out the shortbread. Bake for 10 minutes, or until just starting to lightly brown. Leave to cool completely. Once cooled, I like to use a microplane grater to shave down the sides of each shortbread so that they’re perfectly square.

For the blood orange icing, sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and add in the vanilla. Mix in the blood orange juice a tsp at a time, until you have the a thick dipping consistency. Dip the tops of each of the shortbread biscuits with holes in, into the icing. Leave to set for at least an hour. Once set, place the curd into a piping bag fitted with a small plain piping nozzle. Pipe a small bulb of curd on each bottom piece of shortbread and place the dipped shortbread on top. Eat on the day they’re made.