Scottish Simplicity

I have tried just about every shortbread recipe on the planet.  I have made some that were decent, some that were flat out horrible and some that contained suspicious ingredients, like eggs.  What I wanted was like Walker's...that amazing stuff in the tartan package?  I finally found it. 

Here's what I've found out in my nearly 9 year quest to find the perfect shortbread recipe: shortbread should contain only three ingredients: butter, flour and sugar. Shortbread is not hard to make, but it must be made with a wee bit of patience. Shortbread must be baked low enough and long enough to brown the butter. That's where the amazing flavor comes from. Do not be afraid to let your shortbread get nice and golden.  This is good practice for figuring out your oven's quirks, because all ovens have them. 

And you're welcome in advance. :)

Shortbread

1 cup granulated sugar
4 cups flour
1 pound (4 sticks) cold salted butter, no substitutes

~Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

~In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sugar and flour.

~Cut the cold butter into smaller pieces and add to the flour mixture.

~Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or fork until you have a sandy mixture.

~Knead the mixture in the bowl until it comes together into a dough. It will start out crumbly, but it will turn into dough...be patient! This will take about 5-8 minutes.

~Knead until it just comes together. Crumble the dough into a 10x15 baking pan. Pat into the pan evenly. 

~Prick the dough all over with a fork . Cut with a knife into fingers. (I make mine into 3 long rows and then divide into 1 inch sections)

~Dust the top with granulated sugar.

~Bake for 25-40 minutes, turning the pan halfway through baking. Ovens vary wildly, so watch your shortbread. Take it out when it is a rich golden brown.

~Cut through the shortbread fingers while hot. (If you want more sugar on top, feel free to dust your shortbread again with sugar, but do it while it's hot so it will stick.) Let cool completely in the pan.

~Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place...if it lasts that long.

Project Birthday Cake: 2009 Edition

The party was last night and the confection is done and dusted. As in eaten. It was thoroughly destroyed. But in glorious fashion as I'm sure it was completely nom-able.

I didn't take any pictures of assembly or make-age for several reasons: first, I was terrified it wasn't going to turn out. This was my first foray into actually fondanting a whole cake. With fondant that I made. But it was glorious and so much easier than anticipated! Second, it was a lot of busy work. I spent nearly a week crafting roses before I finally got into a groove the night before, sitting on my couch, modeling them under the mood-lighting of the Christmas tree while watching ghost hunting shows at 1 in the morning.

In between those times, I made fresh lime cake (which was a tweak of last year's Vanilla Buttermilk Cake with fresh lime zest and a little bit of lime juice in the batter...let me know if you want the exact recipe) for the top tier and then two giant chocolate cakes for the bottom tier. I killed two hand mixers in the process.

In the end I used 4 bags of marshmallows, 6 pounds of powdered sugar, 3 pounds of butter, 1 pound of chocolate, half a bottle of lemon extract and nearly 2 vials of luster dust. Here are all the recipes you could ever want for crafting your very own cake. I suggest you send your children away for the duration unless you want to go insane. :)

Chocolate Butter Cake
a.k.a. Mix Master Murderer

This cake is deep, dark, moist and chocolatey. With a hint of cinnamon in the background, it's decidedly sexy and actually very easy to make.

A word of warning, though...the batter for this cake is mixed in a curious way, dry ingredients and butter are beaten together and then you add the wet ingredients last. For this reason you will absolutely need a stand mixer, a heavy duty hand mixer, or a very sturdy mixing arm on your person. You will also need to scrape down your bowl and mix through it to make sure there are no random flour deposits hiding out in your batter, because they will be hiding in there. Trust me. Now onto the recipe!


3 cups cake flour
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
3 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 eggs
3/4 cups freshly brewed coffee, cooled to room temperature (alternately, you can use decaffeinated coffee or room temperature water, but the coffee adds a dimension that makes the chocolate more chocolatey. If you opt out of using the coffee, add an extra teaspoon of vanilla to the water.)
3/4 cup room temperature water mixed with 1 teaspoon of vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter three 8-inch square cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

2. In a large mixer bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. With the electric mixer on low speed, blend for about 30 seconds. Add the butter and buttermilk and blend on low until moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Whisk the eggs,coffee and water together, and add to the batter in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating only until blended after each addition. Divide the batter among the three prepared pans; each pan will take about 3 1/4 cups of batter.

4. Bake for 38 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Carefully turn them out onto wire racks and allow to cool completely. Remove the paper liners only when they are cool.

Marshmallow Fondant

This tastes miles better than anything you could ever drop a pile of cash on pre-made ~seriously, go price that stuff, it's ridiculously expensive~ and will taste a million times better. That Wilton stuff? Yeeech!

It covers cakes beautifully and once you get a feel for how to make it, it's really easy.

16 ounces mini marshmallows (check the weight on your bag, most of them are 10.5 ounces, so you will need one and a half bags if this is the case)
2-5 tablespoons water
2 pounds C&H powdered sugar
Crisco

1. Put the marshmallows and 2 tablespoons water in a microwave safe bowl.
2. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring until the marshmallows are completely melted.
3. Once the marshmallows are melted, put 3/4 of the powdered sugar on top of the melted marshmallows.
4. Heavily grease the counter where you will be working with Crisco. Then heavily grease your hands as well. Make sure you get them well coated. Keep the crisco nearby so you can dig into it if needed.
5. Mix the marshmallows and sugar together as well as you can, then dump out onto your greased counter.
6. Start to knead the mixture like bread dough. You will immediately see why have greased your hands. The fondant is incredibly sticky and messy at this stage, but keep kneading. Re-grease your hands and the counter as needed.
7. It will take you about 5-10 minutes of kneading to get a smooth, elastic ball. Add the rest of the powdered sugar a little at a time until it is no longer sticky. If the fondant is too dry, add a 1/2 tablespoon of water at a time and knead it in.
8. When you are done, you can roll it out and use it right away if there are no bits of powdered sugar in it. Otherwise, coat the fondant with a layer of crisco, wrap it in plastic wrap and put the ball in a zippered plastic bag, making sure to squeeze all the air out.

Modeling Chocolate

I use this for roses, but you can make anything out of it for decorations. Let it air dry and it can be stored in a cool dry place for weeks. Just don't try to dye it unless you get coloring for chocolate or it will sieze up. I learned this the hard way. Buy the pre-colored candy melts and save yourself a lot of headaches.

9 ounces chocolate candy melts*
1/4 cup corn syrup

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler.
2. Add the corn syrup and stir until completely mixed. It will get harder almost immediately. Also be aware that the corn syrup will darken the color of your chocolate slightly once you add it.
3. Spread out the mixture onto a piece of foil or waxed paper and let it cool.
4. Once cool, knead the mixture slightly and wrap in a piece of plastic wrap and then put it in a zipper bag. Knead the mixture again to warm it up before rolling or modeling into shapes.

*This recipe is for vanilla candy melts, not milk or dark chocolate. The corn syrup ratio is different for those but I'm too tired to look it up right now...

Bread Makin' Weather

It's a snow day! These are my favorite days to bake bread. The house can get all steamy hot and it won't matter, the smell of bread baking is completely cozy, and then you get to eat it!

I used to make this recipe for Butter Crescent Rolls all the time when I first got married, and then it got shoved away in the cookbook pile and mostly forgotten until Thanksgiving this year. I made two kinds of rolls and these got eaten first. Some people going back for fourths and fifths!

They are light, buttery and deceptively easy to make. You should probably make extra. :)

Butter Crescent Rolls

1 tablespoon yeast
1/3 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 and 1/4 cups flour
butter, softened

~Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let it sit until frothy. (About 10 minutes.)
~Microwave the milk until warm, but not hot.
~Stir in the salt, sugar and egg.
~Add the milk mixture to the yeast mixture.
~Stir in enough flour for a soft dough. The dough will be sticky.
~Cover bowl with plastic wrap and raise until doubled.
~Flour your cutting board/counter. Divide dough in half, put one half on the floured surface, flour the top as well and roll out dough into a circle.
~Brush the circle generously with soft butter.
~Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the circle into 8 wedges. Roll each wedge from the wide edge at the top down to the point.
~Place the rolls on a baking sheet forming a crescent shape with the point underneath (this keeps it from unrolling while it rises). Space them about an inch apart.
~Repeat the rolling and cutting steps with the second half of the dough. You will have 16 rolls.
~Cover rolls with plastic wrap and let raise until double.
~In the meantime, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
~When rolls have doubled, bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Oh So Sexy Lemons...

Here is the recipe for my ho-made (hee hee...that's for you RCH) lemon curd that came out so amazingly tasty that I kept sneaking tastes of it and finally had to hide it from myself in the back of the fridge.

You can use it for a lemon meringue pie, spoon it over ice cream or cake, fill cupcakes with it, pour it into tiny tart shells, pair it with berries and cream. So many possibilities. And if you don't like lemon you can switch it up with lime, orange or even grapefruit.

The recipe is a bit intense, and you're going to need a bit of prep to make it, but it's SO worth it.

Master Lemon Curd
adapted from Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard

2/3 c. sugar
2 T. finely chopped, grated or rasped lemon zest
3 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
1/2 c. fresh lemon juice
1/4 c. fresh lime juice
(you can also use all lemon juice...3/4 cup. Using part lime adds an extra citrus dimension.)
6 T. unsalted butter, cut into half inch cubes and chilled

-Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a food processor and pulse for about 1 minute, until the sugar is yellow and fragrant. Alternately, use a mortar and pestle or a small bowl and a fork. Clean and dry your food processor (if using) for later in the recipe.
-Fill a medium saucepan three-quarters full of water and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
-Combine the lemon sugar, eggs and egg yolks in a medium heatproof bowl and whisk for 30 seconds.
-Place the bowl over the simmering water and whisk continuously for 15 seconds or until the sugar is completely dissolved- to check for this, stick your finger in, if you feel granules, the sugar isn't dissolved~keep whisking until it is.
-Once the sugar is dissolved, add the lemon and lime juice. Whisk continuously for about 5 minutes, scrape down sides of bowl a couple of times with a rubber spatula.
-Insert a candy thermometer and keep whisking ~ the curd is done when it has a temperature of 160*F, and a consistency similar to sour cream. Go by temperature, not time. (Mine took about 10 minutes to reach it...time will vary wildly.)
-Transfer the curd into your food processor and pulse while you add the butter one piece at a time. Alternately, transfer the curd to a clean large bowl, and whisk the butter in by hand one piece at a time. (Yeah! More whisking!!) Once all the butter has been added, pulse or whisk for an additional 10 seconds. You're looking for a homogeneous texture.
-Strain the curd through a fine mesh strainer into a clean glass bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic directly onto the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Stir the curd occasionally until it has cooled completely.
-At this point you can use it or store it in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple weeks. You can also freeze it for several months without quality changes when thawed. Put it in the fridge and let it come up to temp for 24 hours before using.

Makes about 2 cups

* I made a few changes to recipe from it's original form, and I'm posting the differences here so you know what and why.

The original recipe calls for an ice bath, which is really just a bowl of ice cubes that you can sit the heatproof bowl in to help cool down the curd when you're finished whisking. I noticed (as did several other people who have made it) that this step wasn't really necessary. Especially if you are whisking it by hand. The chilled butter and the whisking seemed to bring the temperature down considerably, so by the time I put it in the ice bath it was just barely warm. However, you can keep this step if you need to cool it down in a hurry or if you are a big fan of ice baths. :)

Also, this curd is just on the edge of quite tart, so if you would like the curd a little sweeter I would suggest upping the sugar to 3/4 cup.

You can also whisk in an extra 2 tablespoons of cubed and chilled butter if you'd like richer curd. I upped it from the original 4 tablespoons to 6, but felt like 6 was plenty...plus all that whisking! For cubing, take your butter out of the package, put it on a piece of waxed paper, cut into cubes, wrap it up in the waxed paper and put it back in the fridge until you're ready to use it in the recipe.

Noggy!

Really, if there was any reason for you to have a bottle of ground nutmeg in your pantry it would be for sprinkling over Eggnog, don't you think?

I myself have not been a huge fan of drinking eggnog until recently. I think it's too thick to be drunk in any reasonable fashion, but I love the taste. And thinned down with milk it's quite yummy. They've also come out with a pumpkin eggnog here that is really, really good. My favorite way has always been Eggnog Ice Cream, which is magnificent and gorgeous and if I could I would marry it. YUM.

Anyway, I was looking for some new and interesting recipes to try and I found a recipe for Eggnog Cookies. Something I've certainly never heard of before, but I thought it might be a nice holiday recipe. All I can say is wow. These are not only tasty, but they smell divine! You might as well invite Christmas over to your house and ask it to stay.

Eggnog Cookies

1 and 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup eggnog
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 and 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

-Preheat oven to 300 degrees. (Not a typo.)
-Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.
-In a seperate bowl cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
-Add eggnog, vanilla, and egg yolks. Beat until smooth.
-Add flour mixture until just combined. Don't overmix.
-Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets at least 1 inch apart.
-Sprinkle each cookie lightly with nutmeg.
-Bake 20-23 minutes until bottom begins to turn light brown.