Hungarian Shortbread with Tart Cherry Preserves
Boy this is good! It’s not your typical shortbread. It’s a little softer. The preserve filling definitely adds pizazz. This Hungarian shortbread is easy to make and yields a large 9 x 13 inch tray.
A box grater is used to shred a buttery shortbread dough that has been firmed up in the freezer. While not difficult, some muscle was required to push all the dough through the grater. Other TWD bakers wisely used a food processor for the shredding but I stuck with the original recipe and did it all by hand.
You can find the recipe for Hungarian Shortbread at 1 Small Kitchen and The Not So Exciting Adventures of a Dabbler.
I did make some changes to the original recipe
- I reduced the amount of sugar to 1 1/2 cups
- I substituted tart cherry preserves for the homemade rhubarb jam
- I lined the bottom of the pan with parchment paper
- I par-baked the crust for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F., spread the preserves and the remaining shredded dough, and then baked for an additional 40 minutes
- I covered the edges with aluminum foil for the last 10 minutes to prevent over-browning
- I placed the room temperature cooked shortbread in the freezer for a few minutes before I cut it into squares
My bottom crust and the top both had a nice golden color. It was baked pretty well throughout. I liked the contrast between the super sweet buttery dough and the tart cherry preserves.
Time for tea and a piece of lovely shortbread filled with cherry preserves. I bet a lot of other jam and preserve flavors would pair nicely with this shortbread dough.
What flavor of fruit preserves do you fancy?
Baker on the Rise 
Oh wow – they look amazing! My favourite is probably raspberry – though it would probably be too sweet for this recipe – rhubarb would be delicious though 🙂
I think raspberry could work. I do love rhubarb but couldn’t find any fresh to make jam or already made in the jam aisle.
That’s a new technique, I’ve ever heard of it before. They look so good. Maybe Blueberry conserve but I love cherry jam!
Thank you for sharing 🙂
I had never heard of this technique either and I had my doubts. It really produced a lovely shortbread in the end. I was tempted to use blueberry 🙂
Ugh. So many good recipes popping up in my inbox today. I don’t know which one to try first. I need to check out Tuesday’s with Dorie. I keep meaning to.
I prefer raspberry, strawberry or lemon preserves though these days if it’s sweet, I’m there.
I agree. You can’t go wrong with fruit and sweets! Please do check out the TWD group. It’s a wonderful group of bakers and I have learned so much from this awesome community.
Beautiful! Love your adjustments and substitutions. Tart cherry sounds wonderful.
Thank you!
Love blueberry and rasberry preserves too.
Both of those sound good 🙂
Your shortbread bars look fantastic! I would love to try one…. looks just like the form of sheet cakes that I see all the time at the bakeries here in Germany. I’ll have to try these out!
Laura
Thank you! Let me know if you like them!
These look amazing! I love using cherry. 🙂
Thank you so much! I really like cherry!
This looks lovely, I’ll have to give it a try. I agree with you that sour cherry is gorgeous… maybe a ginger preserve would be nice too… thanks for sharing this 🙂
I don’t think I have ever had ginger preserve. Sounds interesting 🙂 Let me know if you like them 🙂
I used raspberry and have gotten compliments with it. Yours came out beautifully!
Thanks! Raspberry sounds good 🙂
I more or less did eevrything u’ve written about.. just that instead of cherry preserve .. i went for plum preserve!!
Plum sounds yummy!
this IS quite a bit softer! … I think I prefer Scottish shortbread over this one, although this was a nice treat 🙂
I LOVE Scottish shortbread (especially with tea!). However, this seems like an entirely new version that I will make again.
Using tart cherry preserves must have been delicious in this unique shortbread recipe. They look wonderful. How interesting that the dough is frozen and then grated!
Thank you! I had never heard of grating dough before like this but it worked like a charm! I love learning new techniques!
I’m going to have a mini-Eurovision party and I’m looking for party snacks from the countries involved to serve at it. This is great
How fun! Enjoy!
That looks so good! I like your new photo too, very nice 🙂
Thank you!
Lovely looking bars. I also used parchment paper. I didn’t think we needed to add anymore butter or grease to the pan, but I wanted to make sure I could get the cookies out. I also grated the dough by hand; after all the richness of the recipes I needed the excercise!
Ha, ha, ha 🙂 It was a workout!!
These look delicious. I’ve never heard of them before but I’m definitely going to try them soon
I LOVE tart cherries! Great idea!
Thank you! Cherries are one of my favorites!
Yummy! I made blackberry-strawberry jam for my bars. 🙂
That sounds perfect! I may try that next time!
Tart cherry sounds really good! I might cut back on the sugar next time as well. It was really sweet, especially with the powdered sugar on top. The kids Loved it, though.
I think I could cut back even a little bit more. It’s very rich. Yes, my kids think they are perfect with all the sugar 🙂
Oh my goodness everything on your blog looks delicious!
-Sandra
Thank you! Let me know if you try any of my recipes and what you think 🙂
Tart cherries are my favorite, I think! Don’t like anything too sweet. These look delectable!
So good, I agree! Thanks!
that must have been delicious. i love sour cherry anything!
I thought they were very good. I also love tart cherry 🙂
Cherry sounds delicious. This was one tasty recipe. Love learning a new technique.
Me too!
Yours look beautiful. Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Thanks!
Good idea to par bake the crust. The tart cherry preserves sound delicious and a nice balance to the sweet crust.
Several TWD bakers suggested this and I am glad I listened to them. I couldn’t find rhubarb yet so I think the tart cherry was a good substitute.
I am sure the cherry preserves added a great balance to the sweet dough (and a great visual interest as well). Great job!
Thanks, I think so 🙂
Ooooo…..love cherry preserves and I’m sure it was wonderful in these cookies. Very pretty shortbread!
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Sour cherries, yum! I am not a huge fan of fruit preserves but if I am to pick one – it would be figs 🙂 Was the bottom crust crunchier from the pre-baking or did it soften because of the jam on top? I did not pre-bake, however I ended up using thinner crust.
Fig sounds good. The bottom crust had a nice golden crunch to it and the rest of the dough (top and bottom) was soft like a cookie. But not undercooked in my opinion.
cherry sounds fab!
It is 🙂 but I have seen a lot of other good flavors I would like to try also!
I’m glad to know this works with less sugar. It was VERY sweet. Sour cherry sounds like a nice alternative to the rhubarb. That sweet / tart contrast was needed.
I think it was still very sweet even with the reduced sugar! The tartness helped with that though.
I made a lot of the same modifications. Great post!
Thank you, lots of fun 🙂
Yours look great! … and you were smart: you only baked your single layer for 15 mins 🙂 I think if I tried this again, I’d try grapefruit marmalade – something another TWD’er mentioned.
Thanks! Grapefruit marmalade sounds so interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever had that before!
Beautiful results! I cut back on the sugar too, trying to do that in lots of recipes these days:)
I know! But with all that butter I don’t know how much it helps 🙂
Cherries! I love Morello cherries and reading your post made me excited! I only used half the dough and have the other half frozen in the fridge for later and now I know exactly what jam I am going to layer it with! Gorgeous looking shortbread!
I love the idea of freezing half the dough. Great to have on hand for last minute company.
I love cherry preserves! And next time I’m DEFINITELY going to reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe too…hopefully that will make it a little less tooth-achingly sweet.
A little piece is certainly enough 🙂 I will cut them smaller next time!
I split batch, half apricot and half blackberry. Cherry sounds great! I’ll have to try that next time.
I really like the idea of blackberry. That is going on my “to-make” list!
Lovely Shortbread 🙂
Thank you.
Ohhhhh, you did everything correctly. I didn’t read the chatter comments prior to making the shortbread and did not pre-bake the bottom layer as suggested by many others. Mine was not done although it was done “enuf” to still be delicious. Everything you did from parchment paper to tinfoil just helped you end with a perfect product. Bah Humbug to those who used the food processor. I like to use the processor for many things, to save time, but this was fun. Have you ever grated pastry dough? I hadn’t and laughed through the experience. I think that’s part of shortbread. I liked that you used tart cherries. I want to make this as a cookie on my Christmas platters and am thinking of a homemade cherry preserves filling. Nice Post.
I have never grated dough and this was a unique experience 🙂 I thank all the other TWD bakers who suggested most of the minor changes I made. These could be nice for a holiday platter. The recipe certainly makes a lot. Thanks for stopping by my blog!
I love how you altered the recipe to make it more figure friendly. Wish I had done that! Your shortbread looks amazing!
Thanks! It has so much butter I’m sure it still wasn’t all that friendly to my figure 🙂 It was a nice treat though!
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I’m so happy you enjoy my blog! I really appreciate it!!
I love hearing about the alternate fillings folks have been finding for these squares. Cherry sounds great. My parents’ rhubarb plant shot up almost overnight, so we were able to make the jam. This is one recipe that my nieces say they’ll make over and over.
Put some basil in the cherry jam and I am fully on board with your version! Sounds excellent, and since I’ve never managed normal shortbread this might be one for me to try.