Had you ever heard of a blackcurrant till right this minute? I had never heard of them until I started looking into flavors common to British food and desserts. It’s commonly used like Americans use grape.

I managed to come across a jar of blackcurrant jam at my local big box store and decided I wanted to add something with this flavor profile to our Tea Week. It came together very easily and was a hit even with my husband who doesn’t have that much of a sweet tooth.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cup blackcurrant jam
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp. Oil
• 2 tsp. Baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine 2 cups of the flour and the rest of your dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
3. Mix butter, eggs, oil and vanilla together in a separate bowl until well combined.
4. Combine your wet and dry ingredients together until you get a moist shortbread consistency.
5. Line a greased square cake pan with parchment paper and put half of your shortbread mixture in the pan. Smash it into the corners and make sure it’s even.
6. Spoon your jam over the shortbread and make sure it’s an even layer.
7. Using the other half of your shortbread mixture combine it with the last 1/2 cup of flour and combine until you get a mixture of large and small chunks of dough. This will be your topping.
8. Sprinkle your topping liberally over the top. It should cover most of the jam layer while still allowing some of it to peak out. (See the pics to see what I’m talking about)
9. Bake for 20 minutes until the topping gets brown and crisp.
10. Cool for about 10 minutes before cutting