Classic Shortbread

If you're ever in the mood to bake something sweet, and you find yourself with a shortage of pantry items, NEVER FEAR! With only FOUR ingredients (one being salt), you can bake delicious shortbread in the most meager of kitchens! This recipe comes from my standby for cookie baking, Martha Stewart's Cookies. It could not be easier to make, and the end result is fantastic! No one would ever guess how simple it is to make these scrumptious shortbread cookies!

Of course, it wouldn't be a proper HTEAC post if I didn't throw my opinion around like a frisbee. This recipe is lovely as is, but I think next time I'll use table salt rather than coarse salt. And I'll cut back on the amout to probably 3/4 teaspoon. I got a few large grains of salt in a couple bites, and it sort of reminded me of eating salted pretzels.... weird. Other than that, bravo Mrs. Stewart (or whichever of her kitchen staff came up with this recipe). ;D Classic Shortbread (from Martha Stewart's Cookies)
Makes 8 wedges (You could get away with cutting this into 12 wedges for more modest serving sizes)

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature, plus more for the pan
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Sift flour and salt into a bowl; set aside. Put butter into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until light and fluffy - 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add sugar; beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add flour to mixture all at once; mix until just combined.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees, with rack in upper third of oven.
Using plastic wrap, press dough into a buttered 10-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. With plastic on dough, refrigerate 20 minutes. Remove plastic wrap. Cut out a round from center using a 2 1/4-inch cookie cutter; discard. Put cutter back in center. Cut dough into eight wedges with a paring knife. Using a wooden skewer, prick all over at 1/4-inch intervals.
Bake until golden brown and firm in center, about 1 hour. Transfer pan to a wire rack. Recut shortbread into wedges; let cool completely in pan. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 weeks.

Kourambiethes (Greek Almond Shortbread Cookies)

On our kitchen counter this morning we have homemade brownies. We have homemade granola. In our freezer we have Häagen-Dazs. In our refrigerator we have Kozy Shack rice pudding. Yet, my dad is still not satisfied with this selection of sweets. He requested that I make some cookies; either Koulouria (Greek butter cookies, which IMHO are bland and gross) or wedding cookies. I compromised and made Kourambiethes, which are Greek cookies sort of like wedding cookies, but with almonds instead of pecans! These are my favorite Greek cookie, and quite frankly, the only Greek cookie I've ever encountered that isn't soaked in syrup or completely dry and tasteless (or topped with sesame seeds, something I'll NEVER understand). The dough for this particular recipe is just a tad difficult to work with because it's slightly crumbly; a "short dough," if you please. But the flavor and texture of the finished cookies is so delightful! They're crumbly, but somehow they still feel moist on your tongue. Definitely something I'll be making again and again! :)
Kourambiethes (Greek Almond Shortbread Cookies) (adapted from "Come Cook With Us: A Thesaurus of Greek Cooking" by The Hellenic Woman's Club, Norfolk VA)
Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 egg
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup toasted, ground almonds
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (my own addition)
Whole cloves (my own addition)
Confectioners' sugar

Melt butter in saucepan. Remove from heat and cool. Pour butter into a mixing bowl, being careful not to include the sediment in bottom of pan. Beat butter well. Add eggs and sugar and beat well (about 2-3 minutes on high, or until the mixture looks very pale and creamy). Add flour, vanilla, and almonds, and beat for a minute or two; then work well with hands.

Shape in desired forms (1 1/2" balls or crescent shapes). Flatten balls slightly and press a whole clove in the center of each cookie. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes (Mine only needed about 18-20 minutes, just until the bottoms turn light golden). After baking, let cool and dust with confectioners' sugar (I tossed mine in a bag filled with confectioners' sugar while they were hot, and again when they cooled completely).

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread... (think Twix!)

UPDATE: I got the good recipe from my cousin! It's actually from a book I gave her for her birthday this year! Thanks to Fran for typing the recipe up for me!

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread
Makes 12

1/2 cup butter, plus extra for greasing
Generous 1 cup all purpose flour
Generous 1/4 cup superfine sugar

Filling and topping
3/4 cup butter
Generous 1/2 cup superfine sugar
3 tbsp dark corn syrup
14 oz/400 g canned sweetened condensed milk
7 oz/200 g semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Grease a 9-inch/23-cm square, shallow cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Place the butter, flour, and sugar in a food processor and process until it starts to bind together. Press into the prepared pan and level the top. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden.

Meanwhile, make the filling. Place the butter, sugar, corn syrup, and condensed milk in a heavy-bottom saucepan. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer for 6-8 minutes, stirring until very thick. Pour over the shortbread and let chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours, or until firm.

Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Set over a saucepan of gently simmering water and stir until melted. Let cool slightly, then spread over the caramel. Let chill In the refrigerator for 2 hours, or until set. Cut the shortbreat into 12 pieces and serve.

When I got home from work yesterday I was so excited to start baking for "wing night." I wanted to make one of my Grandma's recipes, and I chose her Jelly Roll recipe. I was planning on tweaking it a bit by flavoring the cake with coconut and making a pineapple cream filling instead of using jelly. I attempted to translate my Grandma's handwriting and finally came up with what looked like a perfectly delicious cake batter. I poured it into the pan, watched it bake slowly at a temperature that I had to assume because it wasn't specified in the recipe, then I removed it from the oven to cool. On my way from the oven to my cooling rack..... SPLAT!!?!!? There it went... straight onto the floor... face down, of course!Thankfully, my brain is pretty good at knowing what is and isn't worth getting upset over, and this was definitely not worth it. I picked up the pieces, tossed them into the trash, thought briefly about a few negative words, then headed straight for one of my new cookbooks to choose a new recipe! I used the last of my white sugar in the jelly roll cake, so my options were narrowed down to brown sugar recipes. I chose a recipe for "Toffee Squares" in Better Homes and Gardens^® The Ultimate Cookie Book, but between you and me, I don't recognize any toffee in this recipe. I changed the name to Chocolate Caramel Shortbread! I hoped it would be similar to something my cousin made a few months ago. She let me have some of the leftovers, and it truly tasted like a homemade Twix candy bar! Crunchy shortbread on the bottom, chewy gooey caramel in the center, and chocolate on top. Mine, however, were not like a Twix at all. Well, maybe a factory reject Twix. The recipe called for baking the cookie layer WAY too long before the caramel went on. And it called for too much vanilla in the caramel, which created a very distracting flavor. If I made these again (I won't! I'll be getting my cousins recipe) I'd reduce the first baking time to 15 minutes. I'd also reduce the vanilla to only 1 teaspoon.

I'll try to get the recipe my cousin used and post it here for anyone who wants to try it! Until then, here's the sorry version I made...

Toffee Squares (from Better Homes and Gardens^® The Ultimate Cookie Book)
Prep: 25 min. Bake: 33 min. Chill: 30 min. Oven: 350° F
Makes: about 36 squares

3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (1 1/4 cups)
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips or pieces (2 cups)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 13x9x2-inch baking pan; set aside.
For crust, in a large mixing bowl beat the 3/4 cup butter and the brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until combined. Beat in the egg yolk. Stir in the flour and salt until well mixed. Using flour hands, press the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake about 20 minutes or until light brown (I'd probably only bake for 15 mins next time). Cool in pan on a wire rack while preparing the filling.
For filling, in a medium saucepan heat and stir the sweetened condensed milk and the 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat until bubbly. Cook and stir for 5 minutes more. (Mixture will thicken and become smooth.) Stir in the vanilla. Spread over the crust. Bake 12 to 15 minutes more or until top is golden brown.
Sprinkle evenly with chocolate pieces. Bake for 1 to 2 minutes more or until chocolate pieces are shiny and melted. Remove from oven; set on a wire rack. Using a flexible spatula, immediately spread the chocolate evenly over baked layers. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Cover and chill 30 minutes or until chocolate is set. Cut into squares. Refrigerate up to 3 days.

Lime Meltaways from Martha Stewart's Cookies

I don't have her book, but I may just get it if all of her cookies are this good! I heard about the recipe on The Martha Stewart Show. Then one night last week, I was sitting at home alone... EXTREMELY bored. I decided to bake something very different from my usual baking "repertoire". I remembered this recipe, and I knew my boyfriend would love it, because he loves all things citrus. These really are some of the best cookies I've ever eaten. They are so fruity and tangy that you don't even realize you are eating junk food until you've eaten 10! And they're so softy and crumbly that they really do kinda melt in your mouth. Since I've made them I've probably eaten at least 3 every day! Hahaha. They're really that good, I swear!

First you make the dough and form it into 2 logs to chill overnight.Then you cut it into thin slices.While they're cooling, dust them with confectioners' sugar.And TADA! The most delicious lime cookies ever!

Recipe from

MY NOTES: I added an extra tablespoon of lime juice and some yellow/green food coloring. I sprinkled them with confectioners' sugar first. They weren't quite sweet enough, so I put them in a ziplock bag with some sugar and gently rolled them around.

Lime Meltaways (Makes 2-3 dozen)

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
Finely grated zest of 2 limes
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

Put butter and 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Add lime zest and juice and vanilla, and mix until fluffy.
Whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt in a bowl. Add to butter mixture, and mix on low speed until just combined.
Divide dough in half. Place each half on an 8-by-12-inch sheet of parchment paper. Roll in parchment to form a log 1 1/4 inches in diameter, pressing a ruler along edge of parchment at each turn to narrow log. Refrigerate logs until cold and firm, at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove parchment from logs; cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Space rounds 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake cookies until barely golden, about 13 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool slightly, 8 to 10 minutes. While still warm, toss cookies with remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a resealable plastic bag. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 weeks.