SHREWSBURY BISCUITS/ SHREWSBURY CAKES/ ALL BUTTER SHORTBREAD BISCUITS

Recipe for Shrewsbury Biscuits

Shrewsbury biscuits or cakes are the buttery English cookies which came to India from Shrewsbury, a small town in Shropshire, England. In England they are known as ‘All butter shortbread biscuits’.   It is a popular snack in India. Kayani Bakery in Pune bakes the best Shrewsbury biscuits. Like many other non-resident-puneites I also use to pick up these to gift away to my friends in other parts of our country. These cookies have a nice and unique taste which can only be experienced and not explained. This recipe has given me the results closest to the original ones.

Ingredients (yields 20 biscuits)

• 120gms butter
• ¾ cup castor sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1½ cup plain flour
• Grated rind of one lemon

How to make

Preheat the oven at 180^oC. Grease a baking tray.

Cream the butter and sugar until soft and light. Add one egg yolk and beat well. Add another yolk and beat again.

Fold in the flour and lemon rind to form a soft dough.

Roll out the dough to the thickness of ½ cm. Cut into rounds with diameter of 4 to 5cms. Use a cookie cutter or a sharp edged round container.

Place the rounds in the baking tray. As all the rounds couldn’t fit in the tray. I baked 10 at a time.

Bake at 180^oC for 20 minutes or until light golden in colour. Let them cool on the wire rack. 

Store in an airtight container.

Tip

• Do not knead the dough much. Just bring together all the ingredients with light hands to form a soft dough.