HEIRLOOM: A SHORT STORY
FOOD
The key to this much-loved Aunt’s shortbread recipe is the timber mould she uses.
WHEN THE TIME came for Roma Williamson to downsize to a smaller home, she carefully culled the belongings and memories she had collected in the large house she had lived in for over 50 years. But somehow her treasured timber shortbread mould disappeared in the process, sparking a frantic search for a new one.
“Her daughter and I scoured kitchenware shops in both Victoria and New South Wales to find a replacement but without success,” explains Roma’s niece, Helen Dafter, who lives on a small property just outside of Bulahdelah on NSW’S mid-north coast. “We probably bought half a dozen each and gave them to her, but she’d always say: ‘No, no, that’s not the one’.’’
Several years later, on a trip with her Probus group to the historic town of Beechworth in north-east Victoria, Roma spotted an identical mould in a Scottish shop and instantly snapped it up. “I think she was so excited about having finally found a replacement that she nursed the parcel all the way home,” Helen says.
The shortbread mould was Roma’s addition to the family recipe passed down by her mother, Amanda Louise Demsey. “My grandmother cut her shortbread into long fingers… I use a cookie cutter,” Helen says of the shortbread recipe she has shared with us on the facing page. “But I still maintain that Roma’s shortbread always tastes better because of the timber mould.”
Helen says the shortbread remains a favourite at family occasions and Roma has kept up her mother’s tradition of sharing it as gifts. “Her hazelnut crescents are pretty good too but whenever morning tea is put out, everybody dives on the shortbreads… there is usually a generous tin of it for you to take home as well.”
Now 94, Roma grew up in Melbourne and married James Williamson in the late 1940s. They moved to Camberwell, where Roma cared for James’ ailing mother and raised their two children. While James passed away over 20 years ago, Roma remains as active as ever. “She says she knows she is going to have a good day when she checks the share prices and they have risen and her name is not among those listed in the obituary column,” Helen says with a laugh. “She is an absolute treasure… she still drives herself to do her grocery shopping and to pilates classes and aqua aerobics.”
However, it’s not just Roma’s shortbread and zest for life her family admires. “She is just the most elegant lady, always immaculately dressed and everything’s coordinated,” Helen says. “And I’ve never heard her say anything negative about anybody, she always sees the positive in people, which is a remarkable quality.”
ROMA’S SHORTBREAD
Makes about 50-60
500g butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar, 3 tablespoons extra 3 cups plain flour
1 cup rice flour
Preheat oven to 1500C.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar for 2 minutes or until creamy. Add flours and mix until just combined.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead until smooth. Divide dough into 3 equal portions. Shape each portion into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in refrigerator for 15 minutes to chill.
Working in batches, roll 1 disc between 2 sheets of baking paper until 6mm thick. Using a floured 6cm-round cookie cutter*, cut rounds from dough. Place rounds, about 4cm apart, on baking-paper-lined baking trays. Keep leftover dough from each disc to re-roll and cut remaining rounds.
Bake shortbread, swapping trays from top rack to bottom halfway through cooking, for 35-40 minutes or until light golden. Remove from oven and sprinkle with extra sugar. Cool on trays. Shortbread is suitable to freeze. * If using a mould, dust with plain flour then firmly press dough into mould.
SHARE YOUR FAMILY FAVOURITES
Do you have a recipe that has been passed down through generations? Send it to us, the story behind it and a copy of a photograph of the relative who passed it on. Remember to include a telephone number. Email vcarey@ bauer-media.com.au or send a letter to Heirloom Recipe, Country Style,
PO Box 4088, Sydney NSW, 1028.