'Melt-in-your-mouth' Shortbread Biscuits from San Camp

At San Camp, the mysterious desert landscape surrounds you. Forget the tourist crowds and over-stuffed 4x4s, too; it’s just you, the wildlife, and a handful of local San Bushmen, waiting to share their secrets.

There is no doubt that San Camp is a special place that feels far from most of our everyday lives. Meerkats pop up from the desert dust, brown hyenas hide in the grass, and you’ll see red hartebeest, springbok and gemsbok scurrying between them. But San Camp isn’t just about wildlife-watching – it’s about the atmosphere and the ethereal surroundings. Disappear into a remote world, a million miles from glowing screens and fruit-themed devices, where the 360-degree panoramas are so vast that you can see the earth’s curvature.

Imagine a flock of billowing white tents shaded by desert palms and surrounded by a thousand acres of shimmering, sparkling nothingness.

You’ve just dreamt up San Camp, an impossibly romantic, seven-bedroom camp on the edge of the Nwetwe Pan in Botswana’s Makgadikgadi. San isn’t a place for frills and fluffiness. In fact, the magic is in the minimalism. This is much like the simplicity and perfection of a fantastic shortbread biscuit.

"Melt-in-your-mouth' Shortbread Biscuits from San Camp

Ingredients
  • 175g soft unsalted butter
  • 200g castor sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 400g plain flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt

Method
  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius
  • Grease and line 2 baking sheets.
  • Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
  • Beat in eggs and vanilla.
  • In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to butter and eggs.
  • Mix gently but thoroughly.
  • If the mixture is too sticky to roll out, add a little flour; however, too much will make the dough tough.
  • Halve dough, form into balls and wrap in clingwrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
  • Flour the rolling surface and place ½ the dough on it.
  • Sprinkle a little flour on top. Roll out to a thickness of ½ cm.
  • Cut out biscuits using a round cookie cutter.
  • Bake for 8-12 minutes – until golden.
  • Cool on a wire rack, and repeat with the second half of the dough.