Ottijiet or Spiced Shortbread
Recipe / Naomi Sherman
These delicate spiced biscuits came up time and time again when I was researching Maltese cuisine. I love great shortbread (and famously gifted a box of my almond shortbread to Nigella), so I was keen to see what these would be like. The answer to that question is: absolutely delicious! The spices are the hero of the biscuit, but the subtle citrus tones are a close second.
Makes: 20
300g plain flour
100g caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp aniseed, ground to a powder
2 tsp vanilla paste
2 tsp orange zest
2 tsp lemon zest
100g cold butter
1 egg
1 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp cold water
2 tsp milk
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1. Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, spices, zests and butter in the bowl ofyourfood processor and blitz until crumbs form.
2. Add the egg, orange and lemon juices and the cold water and blitz again until the dough just starts to come together.
3. Tip out onto your bench and form into a disc.
4. Wrap in cling wrap and
