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Bergamot Shortbread and Lavender Whipped Feta

Recipe by Rewati Kulkarni | Seulfood
Course Appetizer
Prep Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

Bergamot Shortbread

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/8 cups unsalted butter, softened at room temperature (135 grams)
  • 1/2 cup stone-ground cornmeal
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp Hedessent Bergamot Flavour Drops
  • Pinch sea salt

Lavender Whipped Feta

  • 3/4 cup fresh feta cheese, crumbled by hand (6oz)
  • 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 3/4 tsp Hedessent Lavender Flavour Drops
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp granulated sugar
  • water, as needed
  • blue and red food colouring (optional)

Toppings

  • 1-2 slices of prosciutto (this will depend on how many botanical bites you plan to make)
  • fresh oregano leaves
  • coarse ground black pepper

Instructions

Bergamot Shortbread

  • Blitz the coarse cornmeal to a fine consistency in a food processor or blender. Sift to obtain soft, superfine cornmeal flour.
  • Mix with the all-purpose flour and salt in a large bowl. Add butter, sugar, & bergamot flavour drops to a blender and blend to a smooth, buttery paste.
  • Add butter mixture to flour mixture and knead the dough by hand until it comes together as one blob. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  • Take out after chilling and knead by hand again until it forms a soft, malleable dough at room temperature. Roll as much dough as you plan to use into a ¼” thick sheet and cut out small 1” circles with a cookie cutter. If you don’t want to use all the dough at the same time, tightly cover the unused portion in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months for future use.
  • Lay the cookie cutouts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350° F. Once freezing time is up, bake the shortbread for 8-10 minutes until the edges turn golden-brown (this is a good time range to bake 8-12 shortbread cookies).
  • The centers might still be soft, but don’t worry – they will harden as they start to cool at room temperature on a wire rack.

Crispy Prosciutto

  • Once the shortbread has baked and been taken out of the oven, do not turn the oven off. Take off all the cookies from the tray and place the prosciutto on the parchment sheet.
  • Crisp in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes; time can vary depending on the thickness of the prosciutto and efficiency of your oven. Keep an eye on the prosciutto while it crisps to ensure it doesn’t burn! Lay it on a wire rack to cool at room temperature once it’s browned enough.

Lavender Whipped Feta

  • Add all ingredients for whipped feta listed above to a blender, along with equal parts blue and red food colouring drops (if using).
  • Start by blitzing gradually to reduce the size of the feta crumbles. If the mixture seems to be stuck only on the blender walls, give the blender vessel a good shake and add some water until the mixture comes together as a thick paste.
  • Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until it’s time to assemble.

Assembly

  • Add feta dip to a piping bag and pipe swirls on every shortbread cookie.
  • Break the crisp prosciutto into little bits and add some shards to the feta swirl on every cookie.
  • Pluck the tiny oregano leaves from the stems and place 1 or 2 leaves on every cookie. Finish with a generous sprinkling of coarse ground black pepper all over.