Category: Rolled Cookies
Strawberry Vanilla Shortbread Day 4 Holiday Cookies

Strawberry Vanilla Shortbread Day 4 Holiday Cookies

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Day 4 of the 12 Days of Cookies is a keeper.

I LOVE shortbread, it is hands down my all-time favorite cookie.  During the holidays I usually bake a batch of classic Scottish Shortbread.  This year, I am adding Strawberry Vanilla Shortbread Cookies from Use Real Butter to the rotation. Sweet strawberries and a hefty dose of vanilla add a one-two punch to a buttery, tender cookie. I made a batch and the fam scarfed them down in no time flat.

I almost didn’t try this recipe. The first part of Jen’s post is a how-to on drying strawberries.  It’s winter, where am I going to find fresh sweet strawberries to dry?  Not happening in my house, even if it’s the height of strawberry season, I’m way too lazy.  Luckily, at the very end of the instructions, she adds “If this is too much of a pain…you can always grab a bag of freeze-dried strawberries at Trader Joe’s.  Bingo, I am all over that idea.

I should have cut the strawberry pieces smaller for better distribution.  I used vanilla paste in place of the pods and part of the extract.  Once the dough is made, place it in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag and roll the dough flat using the Ziploc border to create a square.  You can also shape the dough into a log for slice and bake cookies.

I used a fluted cookie cutter, chilled the dough to help keep its shape.  It was a little tough cutting through the bits of strawberries but still doable.

This is an absolutely delicious cookie.  If you like buttery, sweet-tart strawberry, and vanilla, bake this cookie.

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Strawberry Vanilla Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

  • 8 oz. unsalted butter room temperature
  • 1 cup 3.5 oz. or 100g powdered sugar
  • 2 vanilla beans split and seeds scraped
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract 2 tbsp of vanilla paste can be subbed for the pods and reduce extract to 1/2 tbsp
  • 1 tbsp Grand Marnier or orange liqueur
  • 2 cups 9 oz. or 260g all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1 cup 4 oz. or 115g chopped dried strawberries (recipe below) or 1 cup freeze-dried strawberries

Instructions

  • Beat the butter with a paddle attachment until smooth.
  • Add the powdered sugar to butter and beat on medium speed until blended.
  • Add the vanilla bean seeds (use the pods for something else) or vanilla paste, vanilla extract, and Grand Marnier to the butter mixture and beat until incorporated.
  • Mix the flour and salt into the butter mixture until the flour is absorbed and no dry flour remains.
  • Stir the chopped strawberries into the dough. Scrape the dough into a gallon-size ziploc bag and roll flat with a rolling pin until the dough fills the bag in an even layer.
  • Seal the bag and refrigerate for at least an hour.
  • Preheat oven to 325°F and line your baking sheet(s) with parchment paper. When the dough is chilled, peel off the plastic and slice the dough into desired shapes or use a cookie cutter (circles show the least deformation) and re-roll scraps to use again.
  • Arrange your raw cookies 1.5 inches from each other on the baking sheet and dock them (prick them) with a fork three times across each cookie.
  • Bake 16-20 minutes (18 minutes worked well for me) until the bottoms are golden. Remove from oven and let cool on a cooling rack.

Notes

Makes about 36 2-inch round cookies or 42 1.5-inch square cookies.

 

 

 
Shortbread with Grapefruit & Thyme Day 3 Holiday Cookies

Shortbread with Grapefruit & Thyme Day 3 Holiday Cookies

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Day 3 and once again I reached into the 2018 vault.  I went straight to a shortbread riff I posted in March, Grapefruit Thyme Shortbread.  I absolutely love these cookies.  The recipe is from my classmate, JJ, also known as KidDoc JJ.  She has a wonderful site, KIDDOCJJ that not only has delicious recipes but, healthy living tips (she is a pediatrician turned chef), guest celebrity interviews, cooking classes for those of you who live in LA, and so much more.  I want to be JJ when I grow up!

This is a lovely cookie flavored with grapefruit zest and fresh thyme and finished with an icing made with grapefruit juice.  So GOOD-tart, sweet, herby, buttery… I am in shortbread heaven just thinking about them.  After she posted this absolutely yummy cookie recipe. I baked a batch, went bonkers over them, and then baked a second batch. The first time I made cut-out cookies. The second time, I shaped the dough into a round (like traditional shortbread), baked it in a pie pan and cut it into wedges. Both ways were equally delicious.  Add this recipe to your holiday baking list, really.  Go jot it down, bookmark it, or print out the recipe right now…I’ll wait, they’re that yummy.

Merry Baking!
Not Your Mama’s Graham Crackers

Not Your Mama’s Graham Crackers

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For as long as I can remember, I have loved graham crackers.  Picture a kindergartener fidgeting in her chair, hands clasped on my lap (trying to look angelic of course), waiting for the carton of milk and graham crackers.  Once I got my milk and cookie, I would break the cracker in half, dip it in my milk, and quickly pop it into my mouth and feel it dissolve on my tongue.

Stepped up Grahams

The cookie of choice, Honey Maid Graham Crackers, and not just in school.  My mom always kept a box of graham crackers in our pantry.  The perfect after-school treat or bedtime snack.

One of my favorite farmer’s market stands is the 2nd Story Bake Shop (sadly gone now).  I usually stop by for my favorite indulgence, their pie cookie.  A delicious bite-size treat of a buttery crust filled with seasonal fruit- fall apples, spring strawberries, summer peaches.

Cracker Craft

On my last visit as I grabbed my pie bite, their cookie jars caught my eye.  The first one contained almond sticks. The second had graham crackers.  The graham crackers were slightly darker than golden brown, round not square with none of the characteristic markings. They looked rather unassuming.  The vendor exclaimed it was her favorite cookie. Ok, I’ll give it a go.  It was DELICIOUS, crispy, buttery, with a hint of cinnamon and honey.  Wow, not your mama’s boxed graham crackers.

After some cajoling, banking on me not knowing the book or pastry chef, they revealed the source of their recipe.  The Craft of Baking by Karen DeMasco  (Tom Colicchio’s pastry chef).  Wouldn’t you know it, I own a copy!  No big surprise there.

Homemade graham crackers.  I know, who would have thunk it that you can actually make graham crackers at home.  Of course, you won’t have that familiar blue box with the honey bee on it, but you won’t miss it after you try these.

Making these cookies is similar to shortbread cookies.  I opted not to roll out the dough but to form a slice and bake log.  Easy peasy.  The dough is pretty soft, chilling makes it easier to form a log.  I used clover honey which is very mild in flavor.  I’m sure you can experiment with other kinds of honey.  I am waiting for my embossed rolling pin to arrive so I can roll and stamp the dough before baking, an idea I saw on food52.  The cookies looked amazing.  The embossed version in a delicious dessert can be found here!

I couldn’t resist turning some of these homemade graham crackers into the quintessential campfire treat, S’mores.  I can almost hear all of you going hmmm, I remember making S’mores! So keep this recipe in mind, and when summer rolls around travel back to your kid days, get out the marshmallows, Hershey’s Chocolate bars, whip up a batch of these grammies, and enjoy!

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Not Your Mama’s Graham Crackers

Course cookies, crackers, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword graham crackers
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 19 minutes

Ingredients

Da Dry MIx-Sift together and Set Aside:

  • 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for rolling
  • 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cream Mixture:

  • 8 ounces 2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup honey

Instructions

  • In a bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.
  • In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, and honey. Mix on medium speed until well combined, about 1 minute. In two additions, add the dry ingredients, letting the first fully incorporate before you add the second.
  • Flatten the dough into a rectangular shape, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes or up to 2 days. (The dough can be frozen, well wrapped, for up to 1 month.)
  • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
  • Unwrap the chilled dough, and on a lightly floured surface, roll it out into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Using a ruler and a pastry cutter or a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1-1/2-by-3-inch rectangles; use a spatula to transfer the rectangles to the prepared baking sheets as you go. Reroll the scraps of dough once, and cut out more cookies. Using a fork, pierce each rectangle with two rows of four to six marks.*
  • Bake the graham crackers, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until they are golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
  • The graham crackers will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
  • *Or alternatively, shape dough into a log 3x3 square or 3 inch round, chill until dough is firm enough to cut. Slice 1/8 inch thick slices. Place on cookie sheet approximately 1 inch apart. Bake 11-12 minutes until golden brown. Optional" sprinkle with cinnamon sugar before baking.
  • Makes approximately 30 cookies
My Favorite Scottish Shortbread

My Favorite Scottish Shortbread

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I love baking cookies.  Every Christmas I bake an assortment of cookies for family and friends, a tradition I started years ago.  Last year I made bags of granola instead and realized just how much less stress I had by not baking 10 different kinds of cookies!  But (sigh),  I’ll go back to baking cookies, its a labor of love and I am a glutton for punishment.  There are the tried and true cookies I bake year after year; the few that show up from time to time and then, one or two new cookies each holiday season.

The Perfect Cookie

The cornerstone of my Holiday box of cookies is the traditional Scottish Shortbread.  The recipe, from the long-defunct Cuisine magazine, was the bonus to the story, My Father’s Shortbread.  The author recounts watching his father making shortbread every Christmas.  His father’s only tools were his hands.  I cheat a little and use a mixer to combine the flour into the kneaded butter but everyone should make shortbread completely by hand once.

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Shortbread is my absolute favorite cookie. It’s probably because I am a butter FREAK.  I love butter.  People ask, do you want a little toast with that butter?  Shortbread cookies are the closest you will get to just popping a little pat of moo-magic in your mouth.

The dough can be rolled and cut into traditional wedges or works beautifully as cutouts.  I have in my collection a couple of embossed rolling pins that can be used with shortbread.  Roll the dough to approximately 1/4 inch and then use your embossed pin to create the pattern on the cookie.  The dough is easy to work with and very forgiving.

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(left upper corner going clockwise) Nutmeg logs, World Peace cookies, pecan tartlets, mocha macadamia slices, jan hagels, thumbprints, crescents, peanut & bittersweet chocolate cookies, traditional shortbread, corn cookies

My Father’s Shortbread is my favorite, go-to shortbread cookie, but Bouchon’s Shortbread is a close second!

Adapted from My Father’s Shortbread by Sydney Edelson Cuisine Magazine Dec 1983

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Traditional Scottish Shortbread

Butter in cookie form
Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine European
Keyword Shortbread
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 pound cold lightly salted butter
  • 1 cup superfine sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 4 cups unbleached all purpose flour

Instructions

  • Work butter until soft but not melting.  Easiest thing to do is pound the butter with a rolling pin   Fold butter in half and smoosh it with pin (yes smoosh) until malleable but not warm.
  • Place butter in bowl of a stand mixer, add sugar and salt cream until combined, do not beat until fluffy as this will incorporate too much air into butter.
  • Add flour to butter mixture and mix on low until particles cling together.  Remove from bowl and knead gently until smooth and soft.  Pat or roll into a rectangle about 3/8" thick.  Mark off pieces 1" x 2-1/2", prick with fork and chill for 1 hour.
  • Cut apart and place on cold baking sheet 1/2" apart.
  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees, place shortbread in oven and immediately turn temperature down to 275 degrees.  Bake for 30 minutes, rotate pan and leave for additional 10-15 minutes.
  • Cookies are done when bottoms are golden brown and sand color on top.  You can  use cookie cutters if you wish. Shortbread retain their shape well.

Notes

Remember to turn your oven down to 275 when you put the cookies in the oven!!!