ALMOND, LEMON AND CORNMEAL SHORTBREAD

ALMOND, LEMON AND CORNMEAL SHORTBREAD image

Yield Recipe serves 6.

Number Of Ingredients 8

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1 cup of almonds, skin-on
1 cup of yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup of unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of finely chopped lemon zest (or to taste if you like a strong lemon flavor)
4 oz.and 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
Powdered sugar for sifting over the shortbread (A couple of tablespoons in a shaker or a small sieve)

Steps:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Blanch the almonds in boiling water for approximately 1 minute. Drain in a sieve and peel the skin off, by squeezing between your thumb and finger. (be careful not to shoot them across the room, they become slippery) Place them in a food processor and chop them finely by pulsing. Add the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest. Pulse a couple of time to combine. Add the 4 oz. of softened butter and pulse to combine. The dough will just look crumbly. Take the 1 tablespoon of butter and grease a 9" springform pan (just the bottom and 1 " up the sides. Spread the dough in the pan. The dough will just barely stick together, so you will need to pat it down, to an even layer. Bake for approximately 30 minutes. (check after 20). The shortbread should be just light golden, not brown. Take out of the oven, let cool for 5 minutes. Remove the bottom of the springform pan and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into small manageable pieces. Let cool completely and dust with powdered sugar. If you double the recipe, you can bake this in a jelly roll pan, and cut triangle shapes of shortbread.