Receta Baking | Two Shortbread cookies to Celebrate A Life Full of Surprises
‘Life is full of surprises. Just say ‘never’ and you’ll see.’ I did say ‘never’ to this Samsung Notebook after posting my entry for a recipe contest by Del Monte. And today when I open the parcel marked with ‘Winner - 1st Prize’ I understand that it takes more than just magic to make any dream a reality. These are the moments when all those unseen tiny efforts you put in to keep your passion alive seems worthwhile. Thanks Del Monte and IndiBlogger for making it happen! The winning recipe a No-Bake Chocolate Brownie is an easy treat you can make well ahead of time during festive season.
Some news travel faster than lightening. I found myself standing near my oven, baking goodies for friends way before the feeling of winning this pretty Notebook could sink in
What better than baking shortbread cookies. An easy and quick bake with a very ingredients to go in, these cookies resemble our indigenous melt-in-mouth Naankhatai both in taste and texture.
The best shortbread is crumbly in texture and pale in color with buttery taste. The amount of sugar and butter in Shortbread definitely does not make the recipe a favorite for health freaks. But diet goes out of window in times of celebrations and festivals.
I baked two versions of shortbread for my friends, flavored one with orange and the other with spices.
I am never inclined to take part in online recipe contests, thanks to Renee of Indi Blogger whose repeated reminders about the contest made me send my entry in the last moment. Doesn’t this pink Samsung notebook look pretty…
The ingredients in the left is for wholewheat oats shortbread recipe and the other one is for orange flavored shortbread.
Wholewheat Oats Shortbread
Ingredients;
1 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup oats flour
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon powder
Caramel chips
Handful of black currants (optional)
Frosting done by my daughter..
Method; Preheat oven to 160°C and grease a baking tray.
Grind oats (I used quick cooking oats) and brown sugar into fine powder.
Bring butter to room temperature and cream it with a fork or hand-mixer. Add oats and brown sugar powder and whole wheat flour in the creamed butter little by little.
Add cinnamon powder, caramel chips, black currents and bind all the ingredients to form a dough. The black currents and caramel chips will keep peeping out of the dough, do not bother.
Wrap the dough in a parchment paper and chill it in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Take out the dough and roll out the dough into 1/4” thickness or slightly thicker. Use a knife to cut the dough into square shaped shortbread cookies.
Arrange all the shortbread on the greased baking tray, dust it with powdered sugar (optional) and bake at 160°C for 12-15 minutes.
For frosting the shortbread, just mix 1/4 cup of powdered sugar with a few drops of water and spread it with a fork.
Crumbly Orange Shortbread
Ingredients;
- 2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup butter
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp. crushed Pistachio
- 1 tsp. cardamom powder
- 1/4 tsp. orange zest
- A pinch of nutmeg
Method; preheat oven at 160°C and grease a baking tray. Bring the butter to room temperature. Grate the outer part of orange peek to get orange zest.
Cream butter with a fork or with an electric hand-mixer till it becomes light. Add powdered sugar and beat again for a few minutes.
Add orange zest, nutmeg powder and cardamom powder in the butter and sugar mix.
Slowly add flour in the above mixture and make dough. Knead the dough on a board until it is smooth in texture.
Roll the dough in a baking sheet and chill for 30 minutes.
Roll out the dough to about 1/4” thickness onto a board and cut into cookies using cookie cutters. Add a little of crushed Pistachio in the center of the shortbread and dust with sugar powder if you wish before baking.
Arrange all the cookies on the greased baking tray and bake for about 12-15 minutes. The cookies will be soft to touch at this stage but will soon harden after they cool down.
The whole wheat and oats shortbread won hands down in terms of taste and texture. Dust the shortbread with powdered sugar or cocoa powder. You can dip half of the shortbread in melted chocolate leave it on a wire rack to cool before serving. These goodies make perfect festive bake for sharing with family and friends.
It feels wonderful to bring down the blogging curtain for 2012 on a winning note. Thanks to all the readers and blogger friends for your constant love & support to Lite Bite!
Notes;
Do not overwork on the shortbread dough, as this will make the cookies tough.
You can either use chilled butter in the recipe cut into the flour to form the dough or use softened butter and make the dough then refrigerate to get the perfect shortbread.
Do not miss the caramel chips in the wholewheat shortbread, it gives a wonderful gooey bite to the cookies.
Replace the caramel chips with chocolate chips if you can’t find the same.