Shakarchorayi - Sugar bread biscuits

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Sugar bread biscuits

These popular Azerbaijani biscuits are a relative of shortbread, but thicker than the Scottish variety.

The name shakarchorayi (şəkərçörəyi) literally means sugar bread. The key to good sugar bread lies in beating the mixture for at least 30 minutes, if you're beating by hand. Anything less and the biscuits will be heavy. News.Az is grateful to Gullu Cahangir for allowing us to use her sugar bread biscuits recipe and photograph, taken from her informative website Azerifood.com.

Preparation time: 30 min
Cooking time: 20 min
Serves: 4-5

Ingredients

• 500 g/1 lb 4 oz wheat flour
• 360 g/14 oz clarified butter
• 300 g/12 oz caster or very fine sugar
• 1 egg
• vanilla essence

Preparation

• Cream the butter and sugar with a mixer for around 5 minutes. Separate the egg into white and yolk. Add the egg white gradually, continuing to beat for at least 10 minutes after each addition. It is very important to beat the mixture thoroughly. If you're beating by hand, you will need to do it for at least 30 minutes.
• After beating, add the flour and a few drops of vanilla essence. Knead the dough for 5 to 10 minutes. The finished mixture will be crumbly and will seem dry if you're used to making shortbread.
• Take a portion of the mixture and squeeze it in your fist. Put the dough ball on a baking tray and give it a slightly conical shape. Spread the balls on the tray, keeping them fairly well apart.
• With a pastry brush (or toothbrush), brush a little of the egg yolk into the centre of each biscuit. It doesn't matter if the yolk runs down the side of the biscuit, as it will still look attractive.
• Bake in an oven preheated to 180C/350F/Gas 4 for around 20 minutes. The biscuits will spread slightly and will be a faint yellow colour when cooked. When you take them out of the oven, check that the bottom of the biscuits is an attractive gold. If not, cook them for another 3 to 4 minutes, but don't allow the biscuits to brown or they will be too hard.
• The biscuits will be very soft when they come out of the oven but they will become firmer as they cool. Sugar bread biscuits should be neither hard nor soft.
• Serve with tea.