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)