Hello Dear Reader,

I have discovered my new favourite tea, Lemon Myrtle. It is absolutely divine! It tastes just like it smells, and its aroma is sensational. Oh, I am gushing, aren't I? For a long time now, my first love in tea, has been Liquorice, closely followed by Peppermint. I first heard about our native Lemon Myrtle from Morag, over at "Our Permaculture Life" it is a beautiful native tree (Backhousia Citriodora), and its aromatic, glossy green leaves, smell like a potent mixture of lemon and lime.

Lemon Myrtle loose tea leaves and tea bags. I have used the loose leaves in this recipe, but when I get my own tree, I will be making glorious tea from its leaves.
It is a low maintenance, evergreen, that likes a sunny to half shade position and will tolerate a light frost. I have wanted this tree for a long time now, and today, I am going to buy one, with some money given to us, by my Mother in law for Christmas. I can't wait to have this beautiful tree in my garden. Like all plants in my garden, this one will be going into a pot, it's a large one, that I have had for ages, the last plant I had in it was the potatoes and it will need a good scrub with some bleach before I plant anything else in it.
Now, on with the recipe. I was going to make this recipe as part of my "12 days of Christmas" posts, but I just ran out of time. I finally made these little shortbreads yesterday afternoon, and they are almost all gone, already. They are a gorgeous little, buttery shortbread with a hint of Lemon Myrtle, I knew I would love them and every one else did as well. They are easy to make and if you use two sheets of non stick baking paper to roll the dough out, there will be no tears in the kitchen. I have to admit to having the air conditioning on yesterday, as it was a particularly hot day. I don't think the dough, with all its butter, is one that would be easy to handle in the heat. So my tip is, make them in the cool of the very early morning or in air conditioning.
Now, on with the recipe. I was going to make this recipe as part of my "12 days of Christmas" posts, but I just ran out of time. I finally made these little shortbreads yesterday afternoon, and they are almost all gone, already. They are a gorgeous little, buttery shortbread with a hint of Lemon Myrtle, I knew I would love them and every one else did as well. They are easy to make and if you use two sheets of non stick baking paper to roll the dough out, there will be no tears in the kitchen. I have to admit to having the air conditioning on yesterday, as it was a particularly hot day. I don't think the dough, with all its butter, is one that would be easy to handle in the heat. So my tip is, make them in the cool of the very early morning or in air conditioning.

Ingredients for Lemon Myrtle Shortbreads, clockwise from top right-
1 tablespoon rice flour, 1/4 cup of icing sugar, 185 grams cubed butter, a very big pinch of dried or fresh Lemon Myrtle (for my tastes, next time I will add more) 2 cups plain flour

Sift the flour, rice flour, icing sugar and dried Lemon Myrtle into a bowl

When it is sifted, stir well, to disperse the Lemon Myrtle

Now add the cubes of butter, you don't want soft butter, it needs to be cold from the fridge

Slowly rub the butter into the flour mixture, take your time and it will eventually come together into a soft dough. Knead lightly until smooth. A very light hand is needed here

Roll into a ball

And cut in half, putting one half to the side

Working with one half at a time, re-roll into a ball and press between two sheets of non stick baking paper

Roll dough out to 5 mm thickness and cut into desired shapes

I used a fluted, 4 cm cutter

Put onto a baking tray, lined with non stick baking paper. Keep rolling and cutting until all dough is used

Bake in a 180 C oven for 13 to 15 minutes, but keep checking, as all ovens are different. Mine took 13 minutes to bake to a very light gold

Just beautiful with a cup of Lemon Myrtle Tea
I found this recipe over at "A Hopeful Nature", thanks Meg, for a wonderful recipe
So, tell me, is there a recipe that you just didn't get to over Christmas?