Traditional Easter shortbread

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Today I'd like to share a recipe for a must-have Easter cake - traditional Polish Easter shorbread, mazurek.



This year, I prepared the shortbread with a filling made of chocolate and dulce de leche, with a dollop of confiture jam. The shortbread base is melt-in-your-mouth, and the sweet, thick chocolate mixture is balanced by the slightly sour blackcurrant jam. 

You'll find ingredients, method and approximate nutritional values below.



Ingredients
Base
  • 2 glasses (400 g) wheat flour - ideally coarse grain
  • 250 g unsalted butter
  • 1 heaped tbsp (~50 g) sour single cream
  • ½ glass (100 g) caster sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • Pinch of salt

Filling

  • 1 can (400 g) dulce de leche
  • 1 bar (100 g) dark chocolate - I used 74% cocoa content
  • 3 heaped tbsp (~120 g) low sugar blackcurrant jam
  • Decoration: almonds, raisins, glace cherries, soft apricots, desiccated coconut

Method

  1. Prepare the base. Into a bowl add wheat flour, caster sugar and a pinch of salt. Roughly mix the dry ingredients.
  2. Into the bowl add 250 g of cold unsalted butter cubes. Mix it into the flour with a chopper, knife or your hands until it resembles a crumble. Be quick as not to warm up the dough too much, especially if you're using your hands.
  3. Add a tbsp of sour cream and 4 egg yolks into the dough. Mix the ingredients, first in the bowl until the flour fully absorbs the moisture, and then on a floured work surface until you obtain a firm, smooth dough.
  4. Form the dough into a ball and cover it with plastic wrap. Put it into the fridge for at least an hour.
  5. Divide the cool dough into two equal parts. Cover one of them back with a foil and place it back in the fridge. Grate the second part into a greased tin covered with baking paper. I'm using a rectangular tin, 37 x 24 cm.
  6. Spread the dough equally in the tin and press it down with your hand or a glass. Pierce the base with a fork so it wouldn't raise during baking.
  7. Divide the second part of the dough into three parts and roll them out into three logs. Place them in the tin at the edge of the base, forming a frame. Using a knife or a fork, make a pattern on the frame.
  8. Bake the base in a conventional oven preheated to 180 deg C, for 25 minutes, until golden.
  9. Take the base out of the oven and set it aside in the tin for a few minutes. Take it out of the tin and set aside to cool completely.
  10. Prepare the filling. Put a can of dulce de leche and a bar of dark chocolate into a heatproof bowl and heat them up together in a water bath, stirring constantly. Take the bowl off the heat once you get a smooth, thick mixture and set aside so it cools slightly
  11. Put 3 heaped tablespoons of low sugar blackcurrant jam onto the base. Spread it, omitting the frame.
  12. Put the chocolate and dulce de leche mixture onto the jam and spread it patiently.
  13. Decorate your cake. I used almonds, soft apricots and glace cherries.
  14. Enjoy! 
Approximate nutritional value
100 g
  • 442 kcal
  • Carbs: 57 g 
  • Fat: 21 g
  • Protein: 7 g
  • Fibre: 0 g

1 slice (assuming 20 slices)

  • 302 kcal
  • Carbs: 39 g 
  • Fat: 14 g
  • Protein: 5 g
  • Fibre: 0 g

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