Photographs: Claire Bogusz
Text: Claire Bogusz
“Skovskyre” or “forest acid” is an edible clover that grows in forests throughout Denmark. Its heart-shaped leaves are a popular ingredient in New Nordic dishes including salads, dressings, and cold sauces. This recipe for lemon shortbread uses pressed skovskyre as a lovely adornment atop each cookie. The red variety (or “rød skovskyre”) featured here has a beautiful, deep purple hue on the underside of its leaves. The melt-in-your-mouth citrusy shortbread pairs perfectly with the fresh, slightly sour flavour of the skovskyre. These cookies are simple to make yet have such a pretty impact.
Skovskyre Shortbread
Makes 24 cookies
Cookies:
200 g flour (hvedemel)
50 g potato starch (kartoffelmel)
1.5 tsps baking powder (bagepulver)
130 g softened butter
100 g caster or fine sugar (bagesukker)
1 lemon, washed
2 egg yolks
Coarse sugar (perlesukker) for garnish
Optional: food colouring to dye cookie dough
Flowers
To press flowers (or leaves), arrange flowers gently on a piece of parchment paper, facing down. Put another piece of parchment paper on top. Top with a stack of heavy books to flatten the flowers. Leave for at least 30 minutes before using.
Method
#1 Whisk together flour, potato starch and baking powder in a medium
bowl. Set aside.
#2 Using an electric mixer and large bowl, cream together butter and
caster sugar (bagesukker) for 3 minutes. Zest the lemon, and squeeze
the juice. Add zest and juice to the butter mixture.
#3 While mixing on low speed, add egg yolks one at a time and fully
incorporate. Add flour mixture and mix until combined.
#4 At this point, if you’d like to dye the dough, add a few drops of food
colouring and knead the dough together to incorporate dye until you
have your desired shade. Transfer dough to a plastic bag or plastic
wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
#5 Roll out the dough and cut cookies (using a cookie cutter or small
inverted drinking glass). Put coarse sugar (perlesukker) in a shallow dish
and roll edges of each cookie until coated in sugar. Place your
cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake in a preheated,
180°C oven for approximately 10 minutes.
#6 As soon as you have removed the cookies from the oven and while
they are still hot, gently press flowers into the tops of the cookies using
your fingers. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and allow cookies to
cool completely before serving.
HELPFUL TIPS AND HINTS
If you don’t have your own garden, skovskyre is a readily accessible plant found in most flower shops. Alternatively, you can use any edible flowers to adorn your cookies; just make sure they are non-toxic and aren’t treated with any chemicals.
You can store leftover pressed flowers in an airtight container for future use!