Makes 24 servings
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- 8 oz raisins (see notes)
- 8 oz currents
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon mixed baking spice (see notes)
- ½ teaspoon fresh finely grated orange rind
- butter for greasing the baking pan
- about a Tablespoon of milk for brushing the dough for color
For the shortbread
- 3½ cups flour
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 10 oz butter (2½ sticks)
- 6 oz ice-cold water
Special equipment
- 12 cup (or larger food) processor
microplane
a ruler
9x13" pan (a roasting pan is fine)
Method
- Make the dough first: in your food processor, whirr the dry ingredients until mixed. Cut up the butter into quarter inch cubes and stir into the flour with a spoon so each is coated. Pulse repeatedly till all is well chopped. Slowly pulse in the cold water. This may be more capacity than your 12cup food processor can handle, so get that spoon back out and stir the wet bottom back into the dry top between pulses. If you don't do this, you'll have goo at the bottom of your food processor and dry flour at the top.
Divide into two halves, each will weigh almost a pound. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate. You have made the equivalent of two 9" pie crusts if you're tempted to cheat with premade, though we've never tried..
While that chills, melt the 4 Tablespoons of butter in a bowl, stir in the dried fruits, spice mix and orange zest until thoroughly mixed. It's ok if it sits for a time while the dough chills.
After the dough has chilled for at least an hour, preheat the oven to 350°. Generously grease the bottom and sides of your baking pan. Roll out the first dough half into a 9x13 inch rectangle, and place it at the bottom of your baking pan, smoothing it out to make sure it lines the entire bottom of the pan. Spoon the spiced fruit upon it at an even layer. Then roll out the second half of the dough into another 9x13 inch rectangle, and cover the fruit. You will want to be sure to push it to the edges, as it will shrink a bit while baking. Brush with milk.
Bake 30 minutes. Take a peek and span the pan 180° so it colors evenly. Check after another 10 minutes, and remove if you're satisfied with the color. It won't be golden, but neither should it be pale.
Slice into squares with sharp knife while it's still warm. Let cool, and perforate again before pulling the squares off the pan and stacking.
Notes
- Rolling out two 9x13" sheets of shortbread (yes, you'll want to use a ruler) is messy work. If anyone in your family is allergic to gluten, send them away, for a week. You will have flour dust all over your kitchen.
In the U.S., dried fruit is more easily found in 7oz rather than 8oz packs. Your recipe won’t suffer from the lesser amount.↩
Mixed spice, sometimes called Baking Spice, is a collection of sweet spices used in British cookery. It’s easy to make at home, but you probably won’t already have all the ingredients in your spice library.
- 1 Tablespoon ground Ceylon cinnamon
- 1 Tablespoon ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons mace
- 1 teaspoon groung cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom seed
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 Tablespoon ground allspice
Yields just under 6 Tablespoons. Our Scottish Black Bun has a similiar spicing.
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