Heather flower, honey, whisky and orange shortbread

As the friands I made today only used the whites of three eggs, I had an excuse to make something up to use the yolks. On Sunday at the farmers market I bought a small packet of dried heather flowers, and this was a chance to experiment with them. Not really sure of their uses, I decided to go with a Scottish theme and make shortbread - and sticking with this idea, added some whisky and honey (and a bit of orange zest).  When they came out of the oven, they smelled gorgeous but looked a bit pasty, so I quickly made a glaze in the microwave with the juice of half the orange I'd zested and a little honey, and brushed it over the top while they were still warm.  These are lovely on their own, but will also go well with some fresh fruit and maybe a little syllabub of whipped cream, whisky, orange and honey.  If you can't find heather flowers, I think this would work just as well with lavender.

Ingredients

2 ½ oz icing sugar
1 ½ tbsp dried heather flowers
140g unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature
Zest of 1 small orange, finely grated

1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp whisky

10 oz plain flour
3 large egg yolks

For the glaze

1 tbsp honey

Juice of half an orange

Method

1. In a small food processor, blitz the icing sugar and heather flowers together.
2. In a large mixing bowl, place the butter, orange zest and heather/sugar mixture to and beat until pale and fluffy.
3. Beat in the vanilla, honey and whisky.
4. Add the flour and mix until well combined.
5. Add the egg yolks and mix just until the eggs are fully incorporated and a mass forms.
6. Form the dough into a disk, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate until firm (about 30 minutes).
7. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
8. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1.5cm thickness and cut into rounds with a cookie cutter.  Knead the scraps together and roll out again until all the dough has been cut into rounds.
9. Place on the baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until slightly golden around the edges.
10. Meanwhile, make the glaze: place the honey and fresh orange juice in a small bowl and microwave for 20-30 seconds.
11. Remove the shortbread from the oven and place on a wire rack.
12. Use a pastry brush to glaze the top of each shortbread round a few times, and leave to cool completely.