Fennel seed sugar shortbread coins

Servings: bite sized biscuits

These make a perfect bomboniere or festive gift, whatever you’re celebrating, whether it’s Christmas, Chanukah or even Chrismukah (especially Chrismukah!). Treating the dough as you would a log of gnocchi, slicing off 2cm rounds, then flattening into coin-shaped biscuits, is a brill way of baking bite-sized ‘coins’ for Chanukah ‘Gelt’ (usually made of chocolate, but why not shortbread!) or popping into little bags or jarsa to give to colleagues or family for Christmas. Fennel is a fabulous aromatic addition, but if you’ve not got any in the pantry, rather than popping to the shops, use what you’ve got - like ground cinnamon, cardamom or even some mixed spice! Half a teaspoon of any of the above will do it! You can also use icing sugar instead of caster sugar in the sugar coating for a traditional ‘snowy’ effect. These are lovely and buttery and should last for a couple of weeks - particularly if stored in the fridge. If you’re grinching them all to yourself, you can also make them last up to 3 months if you portion them out and freeze them, allowing them to come to room temperature as you need.

Instructions

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or using electric beaters, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. This should take 2-3 minutes for the sugar to absorb and not feel gritty when you rub some between your fingers.
Meanwhile, coarsely grind the fennel seeds in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, scoop out half of the coarsely ground seeds and reserve. Then grind the rest until it’s a fine powder, reserving a quarter of the finest ground seeds for the sugar coating.
To the creamed butter and sugar, add the coarsely and finely ground seeds (besides the sugar coating ¼) along with the vanilla and salt flakes and then beat for another 30 seconds. Sprinkle in the plain flour and almond meal and beat on a medium speed to combine for a minute or so until the dough is a uniform colour, stopping and scraping down the bowl to incorporate halfway through.
Dust a little flour over a clean bench, then turn out the dough and shape it into a smooth ball. Don’t add too much flour - just enough to lightly coat the bench and stop it from sticking. Flatten the dough into a disc and pop in a container and into the fridge for 10-20 minutes - or overnight if making ahead of time.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 170C (150C fan). Line a large baking tray (light-coloured, if possible), or two smaller ones.
Cut the chilled dough into four equal parts. Working one piece at a time, dust your clean bench with a little more flour and roll into a 2cm diameter log. Use a sharp knife to cut 2cm discs all the way along the log. Pop onto your lined tray and gently squash down to form a flatter round ‘coin’ about 1cm high. Repeat until all of the dough is finished.
Pop into the preheat oven for 15 minutes, turning the tray around halfway through in case your oven has any hot-spots. They’ll be lightly golden on top when ready. Pull out and leave them to cool on the tray for 5 or so minutes.
While the biscuits cool, pop the caster sugar and reserved ground fennel seed onto a flat plate or tray with a lip and mix together with your fingertips. When biscuits have cooled and firmed up, toss each in the fennel sugar mix, a few at a time, then transfer to another tray or container without a lid.
Once completely cooled, store in an airtight container or pop into gifting jars for your lucky recipients.