Poppy Seed Shortbread Recipes

LEMON POPPY SEED SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• Cream confectioners' sugar and butter together until fluffy.
• Stir in poppy seeds and lemon juice.
• Gradually add flour and mix well.
• Divide dough into 4 equal portions and roll each into a 4 inch circle on a lightly-floured surface.
• Transfer each dough portion to an ungreased cookie sheet; cut each circle into 6 wedges.
• Prick each wedge several times with a fork and sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden.
• Cool for 4-5 minutes before moving to wire racks to cool completely.
• When cool, break each circle apart into wedges.

EASY RUSTIC POPPY SEED SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Prepare a 9-inch baking pan by greasing lightly with butter and lining the bottom with a round of parchment paper. (*Note: if using a pan without a removable bottom, I find it handy to leave a little 2-inch "tab" on the edge of the round of parchment that's going on the bottom of the pan, to make removal from the pan even easier!). Set aside.
• Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until creamy and smooth, about two minutes. Add the vanilla and beat well.
• In a separate medium bowl, combine the flour, poppy seeds, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until mixture is moistened and comes together into a rough dough.
• Press dough evenly into prepared pan, then poke the dough with a fork 8-10 times, evenly around the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to chill.
• Preheat oven to 300° F. Remove pan from refrigerator and place directly into pre-heated oven. Bake until set and firm, about 40 minutes. (*Note: shortbread should look dry on top. Don't judge by the edges, as they will begin to brown quite early and don't necessarily reflect the done-ness of the rest of the pan. Look for the top of the shortbread to begin to turn ever-so-slightly golden).
• Remove from oven and leaving shortbread in pan and using a sharp knife, immediately cut shortbread in to 12 wedges. Leave to cool completely in the pan, then remove shortbread from pan.

LEMON POPPY SEED SHORTBREAD BARS

Steps:

• Set oven to 300°F (set oven rack to middle position).
• Butter an 8x8-inch glass baking dish.
• In a bowl using an electric mixer cream the butter with 1/2 cup confectioners sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).
• Add in zest, lemon juice (if using) and poppy seeds; mix until combined.
• In a small bowl mix together flour and salt; add to the creamed mixture and mix just until combined.
• Press the mixture into prepared baking pan.
• Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until pale golden brown.
• Let the shortbread cool in the pan on a rack for about 10 minutes.
• Cut into 24 bars and let the bars cool completely in the pan.
• Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

HARD ROLLS (USING A STAND MIXER)

Steps:

• In a large bowl (or your KitchenAid), dissolve yeast with 3/4 cup of the water and sugar. Mix in remaining water, flour, and salt. Mix until dough starts to form. If too sticky, add a bit more flour. Knead for 2-3 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Put dough into an oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover with a clean towel, and let rise in a warm place, free from draft, until doubled in size (about 2 hours).
• Preheat oven to 400°F If you have a baking stone, dust lightly with cornmeal and put into preheated oven. If not, use a cookie sheet. Place a shallow baking pan filled with boiling hot water on bottom of your oven for extra crusty rolls.
• ROLLS: Remove dough to a floured surface. Punch down dough and shape into 4 rolls. Place rolls on a peel (large wooden spatula), also lightly dusted with cornmeal, or on a cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise again for 20 minutes. Slit each roll once and brush tops with egg wash and sprinkle lightly with poppy seeds. If on a peel, slide loaves onto stone or tile; otherwise put cookie sheet in oven. Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden and baked through.
• NOTE: To check for doneness, thump the bottom; if they sound hollow, they're done.

SUNDAY MORNING LEMON POPPY SEED PANCAKES

Steps:

• Stir the milk, vinegar, and lemon juice together in a bowl; let stand 10 minutes to curdle. Whisk in egg, butter, and vanilla extract.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, poppy seeds, and lemon zest until well combined. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and whisk a few times until the batter is mostly free of lumps.
• Heat a skillet over medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cup of batter per pancake into the skillet and cook until bubbles appear on the surface, about 2 minutes. Flip the pancakes over with a spatula and brown the other side, about 2 more minutes.

ALMOND POPPY SEED SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Cream together the butter, sugar, cream cheese, poppyseed and almond extract.
• Add the flour and blend well.
• Roll the dough into balls and press down with the palm of your hand to desired size.
• The cookies will not spread.
• Place a sliced almond on top for accent.
• Bake at 350* for 15 minutes.

OLD WORLD POPPY SEED ROLL

Steps:

• Place poppy seeds into a food processor and process until seeds are ground, about 1 minute.
• Mix poppy seeds with 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon melted butter, lemon juice, and hot milk in a bowl; stir to combine. Cover poppy seed filling and refrigerate while making bread (filling will set up and thicken as it chills).
• Mix yeast with water and 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Allow to stand until the yeast forms a creamy layer.
• Whisk flour with salt in a bowl; use a pastry cutter to cut 1/4 cup butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Pour yeast mixture and egg yolk into flour mixture and stir to make a soft dough.
• Turn dough out onto a floured work surface and knead until smooth and slightly springy, about 5 minutes. If dough is too sticky, knead in more flour, about 2 tablespoons at a time.
• Cut dough into 2 equal pieces. Roll each piece out into a 12x16-inch rectangle.
• Spread half the poppy seed filling over each rectangle, leaving a 1-inch border. Fold the 1-inch border back over the filling on all sides and press down.
• Pick up the shorter side of a dough rectangle and roll it like a jelly roll; repeat with second rectangle. Pinch ends together or tuck ends under to prevent filling from leaking out.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; place rolls seam sides down on the baking sheet and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Beat egg white in a bowl until frothy; brush the rolls with beaten egg white.
• Bake in preheated oven until dark golden brown on top, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cover rolls with a clean kitchen towel until cool to keep crust soft. Cool completely before slicing.

POPPY SEED SHORTBREADS

Steps:

• Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.
• Beat together butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, then add flour and poppy seeds and mix until just combined.
• Transfer dough to plastic bag and pat out dough to size of bag. Press out excess air and seal bag. Roll out dough with a rolling pin to flatten evenly and to fill bag (dough will be about 1/4 inch thick). Freeze dough on a baking sheet until firm, at least 20 minutes.
• Open bag and cut apart along seams, reserving bag for rolling scraps. Cut out as many ovals as possible with cookie cutter, reserving scraps, and transfer to 2 ungreased large baking sheets, arranging about 1/2 inch apart. Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are golden, 16 to 20 minutes total. Cool cookies on sheets on racks 5 minutes, then transfer with a spatula to racks to cool completely.
• Gather and reroll scraps using reserved plastic bag (to keep dough from sticking), then cut out and bake more cookies in same manner.