THREE SHORTBREADS

"There was a mood of magic and frenzy to the room. Swirls of sugar and flour still lingered in the air like kite tails. And then there was the smell of hope.The kind of smell that brought people home." -Sarah Addison Allen (excerpt....)

 Shortbread has always been a staple.  Not just at Christmas. But all thru the year.  It's simple. has a few ingredients and  is realllllly reallly easy to bake. If you can use playdoh to make cookies, then you can make shortbread.

 I've figured out that it's in the  baking that there seem to be some trials and tribulations. The shortbread bakes soft, or burns or just falls apart. I've found that I can make several different tyoes, but bake them with one method: Stuff the pastry like dough into a cookie sheet, slicing and baking and voila: one great pan of shortbread. I've got three different types here. One method to bake. The method for getting there, is all the same. Do not overmix.

 SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD ( 2007)
1 pound of butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar ( I use white / then sometimes brown sugar)

4-4 ½ cups flour ( dough needs to be like pastry, I cannot stress that enough)

 
 Cream butter and sugar.

Add the flour.

Mix like pastry, fingering the dough and butter and sugar.Should resemble pastry. Do not smooth out into a  greasy ball of dough.

 Pat into  parchment lined  13 x 9 inch pan.Do not spray the pan or you will have ikky shortbread.

 Use Heel of hand to move around the shortbread pastry into the nooks and crannies

Prick all over with fork. 

Bake at 325 degrees till lightly browned. About 20 minutes. Add time if needed.

Take out from oven and immediately cut into rectangles. Slice with a sharp knife.

Let cool, then cut again in same indentations.

 Remove from parchment paper when cool.  This is the method yo can use on most shortbread recipes. 

 SECOND SHORTBREAD:  Chocolate Espresso Shortbread (2010)

 1 ½ cups softened butter

1 cup icing sugar

1 tsp ground/pulverized instant coffee granules

2 cups flour

1/3 cup plus 1 ½ tbsp  cocoa

Pinch Salt

Combine all the above till dough is formed like pastry nodules. 

 Press into cookie sheet ( lined with parchment paper). Bake at 325 for about 20 minutes. Again, watch your time and add on if it is still  too soft.

 THIRD SHORTBREAD: PEANUT BUTTER SHORTBREAD or use another nut butter like Almond or cashew
 1 ½  cups butter                                                 

2/3 cup creamy organic peanut butter

1 1/2 cups berry sugar

4 cups flour

1 ½ cups mini chocolate chips

 Combine all but the choc chips. Press into  parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 about 20 minutes, or more. After slicing, let cool in pan. These can be dipped into melted chocolate chips if you wish.

 All three freeze great. Great for potlucks, Christmas giving, New Year's, Any time.

 "November is auspicious in many parts of the country.The weather starts to cool. The festive glow, that precedes Christmas has begun to brighten the landscape." -F.Sionil Jose (1924- Filopino writer)

LEMON ALMOND CHRISTMAS CAKE

 "Christmas Gift Suggestions: To your enemy: forgiveness.To an opponent: tolerance.To a friend: your heart(my personal favourite). To a customer: service. To all: charity. To every child: a good example. To yourself: respect." -Oren Arnold (1900-1980. Journalist) 

 LEMON ALMOND CHRISTMAS CAKE
This is an adaptation of two recipes.  The result is a rather golden cake. Buttery and lovely.

 COMBINE in large BOWL:  3 cups golden raisins, 2 cups dried fruit or glazed fruit ( your choice), 1/3 cups orange peel,1 cup chopped apricots 1 cup dried cherries, 2 cups slivered  almonds, 1 1 12 cups pecans, 1/2 cup chopped candied ginger, 1 cup dried cranberries,

 Pour over top and mix in 2 cups grand Marnier Brandy. with 1/2 cup lemon juice.

 Let sit for a couple of days to meld.

GET PANS READY: I used those cute little foil pans you can find in the baking aisle. I spray them with Pam. Line with parchment  ( not too fussy mind you...just slide a piece into the pan and let the edges hang out). Then spray again. This recipe makes about 10 . Give or take.  Have a few extra on hand just in case.
PREHEAT OVEN to 275 degrees.

 ON BAKING DAY PREPARE BATTER: Beat 1 pound butter with 2 cups white sugar.
THEN: Beat in two or three at a time, 12 large eggs.

 ADD a couple tablespoons lemon extract, quite  bit of grated lemon peel, 1 tsp almond extract, 1 tsp vanilla extract.

 BEAT in 3 cups flour, pinch of salt, and 1 tsp baking powder.

 "Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!" -Hamilton Wright Mabie (1846-1916 American Essayist)

 NOW COMES THE HANDS ON PART, so to speak: Pile the fruit  stewing in the booze ( it's okay, it will bake out and leave a wonderful taste. If you use orange juice to soak NOT the same. Trust me.  BUT when you bake with it, it makes the flavours punch up) INTO the batter bowl.

TAKE YOUR HANDS ( those wonderful , glorious hands that God gave you) and MIX away. Only way to do it, as it is very heavy and dense. And it's FUN to use your hands. 

CLEAN HANDS FIRST! 

 TAKE YOUR CUTE LITTLE BABY PANS: Plop in batter to around or near the top and smooth top.

LINE UP  on Cookie sheets to bake.

 PLACE IN OVEN: I have a convection oven so can do them all at once. Bake for about 50 minutes.

 THEY WILL NEED MORE TIME. So be sure to check off and on. Add  ten minutes or so or five minutes to get them to bake to doneness.

 USE a sharp steak knife to TEST. It should come out clean. You can use a toothpick but I don't have any toothpicks or skewers. STEAK KNIFE  works great.

 Let cool on cooling racks. When cooled ,I take out the baking paper, put back in the pan, wrap in small freezer bags , add an ingredient list inside the plastic bag on top of the cake, so people can see what is in the cake. Then freeze them till needed for gift bags. I never add more booze to the cake  after baking. It makes it taste bitter.  And a lot of people do not want that taste. Well,maybe some do, but I think it's yukky.

 "Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most." - Ruth Carter Stapleton (1929-1983 Sister of Jimmy Carter)

ZOMBIE CHRISTMAS CAKE 2016

 ZOMBIE CHRISTMAS CAKE 2016. 
   Yes, I know, scary title. But after all it's just a Christmas Cake. It's what's in it that makes it a great mix. Molasses, Cocoa, Vanilla Whiskey,prunes, and  a bunch of other things to make it mesh together. I combined two recipes, having become bored with just the same old thing, and created something else. It is dark, dense, tangy and has a bite. I feel like Mary Shelley......

 "Christmas is not a date,it is a state of mind." -Mary Ellen Chase

 SOAK in IN LARGE BOWL:                                

6 cups dark raisins                                                                                                          

1 ½ cups chopped dates                                                  

1 pound mixed peel                                                          

½ pound candied cherries                                                

2 cups almonds                                                                      

1 cup walnuts                                                                       

1 cup pecans                                                                         

2 cups prunes                                                                                                                   

2 ½ cups Whiskey ( almond flavoured)You can buy this in small- small bottles

 *You can use orange juice, but it is so blah. The whiskey pumps up the taste and bakes out.One year I made fruitcake with  nothing. Double Blah.

 Prepare 14-16 small foil loaf tins. Spray with Pam. Then slide in a piece of parchment paper. Spray again.
 When you plop in the batter, smooth the tops. I put the batter right to the top. Makes a pudgy little loaf.

 SET OVEN to 275 degrees. (On a convection oven ,if using top and bottom tier, I put it to 300)

COMBINE SOAKED FRUIT with BATTER in BOWL. Use  hands if you wish, since it is a lot to handle.

 BEAT BATTER in LARGER BOWL:  
2 cups butter

2 cups sugar                            ½ tsp b powder                 1 tablesp vanilla ext                      

  ½ tsp b soda                      2 tbsp almond extract

½ cup molasses               ½ cup cocoa powder

2 tsp allspice                 ½ cup apple juice                                                                     

4 tsp cinnamon               1 cup strong coffee

½  tsp cloves                   12 eggs beaten in two at a time

3 ½ cups flour

 Make sure you beat in eggs one at a time. Some recipes separate them. I never do. Turns out fine. And a lot faster.

 Beat the batter  well before adding the fruit. Do not drain the fruit.

 My mother always used to mix fruitcakes by  hand. I can still see her in the kitchen, turning over the batter.

 "I wish we could put some of the Christmas spirit in jars, and open it up all year. " - Harlan Miller

 "From home to home, and heart to heart..." -Emily Matthews

 Stuff in the fruit/batter into the foil pans. Place pans on cookie sheets.

 If you have a convection oven this works really well, and you can bake them all at once. Doesn’t need a pan of hot water in the centre.

 Bake at 275  about 45 minutes, then add more time as you need, testing the centres with a sharp knife. I think in the end it took about an hour.

 But each time you bake  these the time differs, so add ten minutes after the initial 45, and then add less as it counts down. Should be a dry edge you pull out of the cakes. Just be sure to watch them and test till you are satisfied they are done.

 You can brush with a little whiskey when done baking , if you wish.( I really dislike the taste of raw alcohol on xmas cakes , so bitter tasting), but that’s just my preference

 So the whiskey you smother the fruit with, should be enough, as it bakes right in. But if you are so inclined, you can swish a bit on top. I freeze them in little bags, with the ingredient list slipped under the plastic.They are great for gifts, alongside another little light fruitcake. And maybe a bottle of wine or cider or shortbread…..

 "Love was born at Christmas...." -Christina Rossetti