Christmas Shortbread Houses with Nutella®
Bring a touch of whimsy and warmth to your Christmas biscuit platter
These adorable shortbread cookies are cut into charming house shapes and sandwiched around creamy Nutella®. A fun, festive twist on your traditional gingerbread house, just as fun to make as they are to eat.
INGREDIENTS for 20 portion
170g flour
55g granulated sugar
100g soft butter
a pinch of salt
¾ teaspoon (1.5g) gingerbread spice mix
100g Nutella®
HOW TO MAKE SHORTBREAD HOUSE COOKIES
In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together. Add the butter and knead for 1-2 minutes until the dough becomes pliable. You can knead with your hands or with a dough attachment on a stand or electric mixer.
Roll out the shortbread dough between 2 sheets of baking paper until it reaches a thickness of around 4mm.
If you don’t have a cookie cutter, you can create your own cookie shape with cardboard. Cut your cardboard into the shape of a house (a triangle on top of a square) and use it as a stencil. Use a knife to cut around the stencil to create your shortbread cookie shapes. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F) and position the baking rack in the middle of the oven.Transfer the dough shapes onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-11 minutes, remove from the oven and let them cool down on the tray.
Fill a piping bag fitted with a small nozzle (about 2 mm) with the Nutella®, pipe 5g (1 tsp) of Nutella® on half of the biscuits and assemble with the other half. You can also use piping bags to decorate your shortbread houses with details of windows, a roof and a door.
If you want to turn your shortbread cookies into tree decorations, modify step 3 and use a piping nozzle to make small holes at the top of every dough shape. Once your biscuits are baked, sandwiched and decorated, string a ribbon though the holes, tie a knot and hang on your Christmas tree for all to admire!