I usually bake every couple of weeks so we have something to nibble with our coffee and tend to favour Italian style bakes as they are so good at coming up with perfect pairings with coffee.  Christmas, however, sees me returning to my Anglo Saxon roots by making these Mincemeat Shortbread Squares – very quick, very easy and very tasty with the added bonus of filling the house with that wonderful festive aroma when they come out of the oven!

Festive Mincemeat Shortbread Squares

250gm Unsalted Butter at room temperature

100gm Caster Sugar

1 tspn Ground Cinnamon

1 tspn Vanilla Extract

250gm Plain Flour

140gm Rice Flour

410gm jar Mincemeat

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C and grease and line a 20cm square baking tin.

Put the butter, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract in a bowl and mix together with an electric mixer until light and creamy in texture. Add the flour and rice flour and fold through with a spoon and then, when combined, knead into a soft dough with your hands.

Split the dough into two equal pieces and press half of it into the bottom of the baking tin.  Then spread the jar of Mincemeat over the top leaving about 1cm from the edges.  Crumble the other half of the dough over the top of the Mincemeat so it has a rustic appearance (I actually tried to roll the dough into a square to fit over the top but it was so soft it just broke up when I tried to lift it so after a couple of failed attempts I opted for the “rustic” look!).

Bake for 30 minutes until golden and allow to cool in the tin before removing and cutting into squares.

These are best eaten within 3-4 days but are also freezable.

Happy Baking and Happy Holidays!