shortbread cookies.

And so the baking continues. I'm quite impressed actually. I've already made chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal cookies (that's a mouthful!), lemon crinkle cookies, magic bars, boeterkoek and now shortbread...and my husband hasn't eaten them all! That's a Christmas miracle in itself! 

I had never made shortbread until now, and not being a huge cookie eater...I'm not sure how valuable my opinion is, but these are dang good shortbread! Anna Olson...you done good! They've got all the qualities you'd want in a good shortbread...buttery, crumbly, melt in your mouth! And then the piece of chocolate on top is just the icing on the cake. Pick your favourite type of chocolate, whatever it may be! Just a word of warning...white chocolate (specifically cookies and cream) does not turn out as pretty :). 


Shortbread Cookies 
 
- (1) cup unsalted butter at room temperature 
- (1/2) cup plus 2 Tbsp icing sugar 
- (1/4) cup cornstarch or rice flour 
- (1 1/2) cups all purpose flour 
- (1/2) teaspoon salt 
- (1) teaspoon vanilla extract
- Your choice of chocolate (Toblerone, Jersey Milk, Cookies and Cream...etc!), optional

 
Preheat oven to 350 °F. Beat butter until light and fluffy. Sift in icing sugar and beat again until fluffy, scraping down sides of the bowl often. Sift in cornstarch or rice flour and blend in. Sift in all purpose flour and salt and mix until dough comes together (it will be soft). Stir in vanilla. Spoon large teaspoonfuls of cookie dough (or use a small ice cream scoop) onto an un-greased cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between cookies. If you choose to add a piece of chocolate, press whatever chocolate you like into each cookie.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until bottoms brown lightly. The original recipe called for 18 to 20 minutes, but I found my cookies started to brown on the bottoms after about 12 minutes, so keep an eye of them! Remove from cookie sheet to cool and enjoy! Freeze the cookies if you'd like to enjoy them at a later date.

magic bars.

 

Wow. I honestly don't know where my head is these days. I have been attempting to bake over the last few weeks in an effort to give some homemade treats to some special people in my life. I know...it's very Italian of me :). Right now, those special people include our two doormen here at Chateauneuf...Tony and Larry. While I previously thought there job was semi-ridiculous, I have really come to appreciate these two over the past year living in our apartment. Besides their obvious role of keeping us all safe from random stragglers, they sign for me when a package comes and I'm not home, they seem to have a sixth sense and grab the door when I'm balancing 8 bags of groceries, and as of late, Larry's been hooking me up with a free copy of the National Post.

But about my head. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I like to cook...not always bake. With cooking, if I've forgotten an ingredient or two...no big deal, I'll substitute. With baking, substituting doesn't fly. It's so meticulous, and one slip up and all of a sudden you've got pancakes instead of Yorkshire Pudding. I know...not really baking, but case in point. 

So my first slip up was buying baking soda instead of corn starch when attempting to make shortbread cookies. I guess it serves me right for trying to cheap out and buy no name brand...all the boxes look the same! On my next trip to the grocery store, I decided while I was there that I wanted to make Magic Bars. Apparently I didn't know the recipe too well, because I got home and realized I needed graham crumbs. Failed attempt number one. A few days later I picked up my graham crumbs, so ready, set, go. Or so I thought until I realized that evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk are not the same thing. Failed attempt number two. This time I was halfway through the recipe, so there was no turning back. The friendly Korean lady at our local "dépanneur" and I are quickly becoming close friends. While grabbing the condensed milk, I saw some packages of chopped nuts, an ingredient I had also forgot, but previously come to terms with. I arrived home with my walnuts and milk in hand...finally ready to conquer this recipe. I bring up the recipe on my laptop and...shit...it calls for pecans and not walnuts...walnuts it is!

Magic Bars

- (3/4) cup of butter, melted

- (2 1/4) cups of graham crumbs

- (1) 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk

- (1 1/2) cups of semisweet chocolate chips

- (1 1/2) cups of sweetened coconut

- (1) cup of chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Coat a 13x9 inch glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray or butter. Combine graham crumbs and butter and press into the bottom of the prepared pan. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut, and nuts.

 Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over the entire mixture.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely and cut into bars or diamonds. I found the bottom layer to be a tad crumbly (although I'll admit I couldn't wait until they were completely cooled), but after putting the tray in the fridge for a while, they cut up perfectly. Store covered at room temperature or in the fridge and feel free to freeze.