Our bush food expert, Narelle, has kindly shared one of her favourite recipes for you to make during the holiday season. These lemon myrtle shortbreads are light and buttery with a kick of citrus from the lemon myrtle and some nutty warmth from the wattle seeds. They’re a fantastic addition to any dessert plate for Christmas lunch, or wrap them up in some native Australian floral fabric with a potted lemon myrtle (Backhousia citriodora) and you have a beautiful and unique Christmas gift! 

Ingredients

• 225grams/1 cup butter – room temperature
• 115grams/1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground lemon myrtle leaves 
• 3 tsp ground wattleseed
• 340 grams/2 ½ cups plain flour

Method

Preheat oven to 150C degrees

Cream butter and sugar until pale and light. Add lemon myrtle and wattleseed, then fold in flour until well combined.

Wrap dough in baking paper or similar and put in the fridge to become firm. 1.5- 2 hours.

Once chilled, roll out dough to a 1cm thickness on a floured surface and cut into desired shape.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and cool on trays.

Drying Lemon Myrtle leaves

Hang branches upside down until dry. Process in food processor or similar and then grind to a powder using a coffee grinder or similar. Store in glass jar.