Mazurek

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups flour
• 0.25 cup powdered sugar
• 200 g butter
• 1 tbsp sour cream (18%)
• 2 egg yolks
• salt
• orange jam
• walnuts
• pecans
• raisins
• sliced almonds

Method

Mazurek is a Polish shortbread base that depends on butter-cake technique: you're creating a crumbly dough through incomplete incorporation, which keeps the crumb tender and short. Cube the cold butter into roughly 1 cm pieces and work it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture looks like damp sand — some pea-sized butter chunks should still be visible. This uneven distribution creates pockets of fat that shorten the gluten strands during baking. Once the texture is right, add the egg yolks, powdered sugar, sour cream, and a pinch of salt. Mix only until the dough comes together; overworking develops gluten and toughens the result. Form into a flattened disc, wrap, and chill for at least one hour — the butter needs to re-solidify so it doesn't smear during rolling.

Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment to a thickness of about 5 mm. Slide it (still on the parchment) directly onto your baking sheet — a 25×35 cm rectangle is correct for this quantity. Dock the surface thoroughly with a fork, pressing small holes across the entire base. This prevents the dough puffing unevenly and creates a flat-bake surface that will hold the topping without sliding.

Bake at 200°C for 15–20 minutes. The edges should turn pale golden and the surface will feel set and firm to the touch, though not brittle. The baking-sheet acts as a heat sink; if your oven runs cool, you may need the full 20 minutes. The base should set before it colours too deeply — you're looking for biscuit-coloured, not caramel.

Cool completely on the sheet, which takes about 30 minutes. The shortbread will firm up further as it cools. Once set, spread a thin layer of orange jam across the base — no more than 3 mm or it'll obscure the texture beneath. Scatter the walnuts, pecans, raisins, and sliced almonds in rough clusters, pressing them gently into the jam so they anchor. Cut into rectangles while still slightly warm (the shortbread is less prone to shattering), or wait until fully cool for cleaner cuts if your knife is sharp. Store in an airtight container; the shortbread will keep for four days.