Vanilla Shortbread Hearts with Mulled Wine Jam
Amanda Georgiou created this dish for Great British Bake Off ™ Season 12. A 56-year-old Metropolitan Police detective from London with Greek-Cypriot heritage, Amanda brought genuine warmth and creativity to German Week's signature biscuit challenge. Inspired by her love of après-ski beverages, she made heart-shaped vanilla shortbread in the Linzer tradition, filled them with a homemade Glühwein jam infused with cinnamon, star anise, cloves, orange, and ginger, and separated the jam from the shortbread with a thin layer of marzipan - subtle enough to provide structure without dominating. Paul Hollywood called the result astonishingly good, declared the jam sensational and worth every calorie, and Prue Leith praised the textural layers and the restraint of the marzipan: the marzipan you get, but you can't taste it. The mulled wine jam became one of the most requested recipes of the series, with viewers and food writers demanding Amanda share it. She applied to Bake Off after her father…
- Time: 120 min
Source: Relaxed Recipes
Ingredients
- STEP 1: MAKE THE MULLED WINE JAM
- Combine the red wine, orange juice, orange zest, cinnamon stick, star anise, clo
- STEP 2: MAKE THE VANILLA SHORTBREAD DOUGH
- In a large bowl or food processor, combine the flour, cornflour, caster sugar, a
- STEP 3: ROLL AND CUT THE HEARTS
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough to approximately 4mm thick
- STEP 4: BAKE THE SHORTBREAD
- Preheat oven to 325°F . Bake for 12–15 minutes until pale golden at the edges bu
- STEP 5: PREPARE THE MARZIPAN LAYER
- Roll the marzipan very thin between two sheets of cling film. Using the same lar
- STEP 6: ASSEMBLE THE HEARTS
- Spoon or pipe approximately 1 teaspoon of the cooled mulled wine jam onto each m