{"id":5320,"date":"2011-12-14T17:11:35","date_gmt":"2011-12-15T00:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/?p=5320"},"modified":"2012-12-20T12:08:40","modified_gmt":"2012-12-20T19:08:40","slug":"holiday-cookies-without-the-fuss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/holiday-cookies-without-the-fuss\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday cookies without the fuss"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

No matter how much I plan ahead for the holidays, it seems life starts spinning out of control about this time every year.<\/p>\n

Here it is less than two weeks ’til Christmas and I still haven’t made any of the usual decorated cookies.\u00a0 Maybe sometime next week.\u00a0 Who knows?<\/p>\n

With these buttery shortbread cookies in the house, I’m not too worried.\u00a0 They’re so good in their natural state, one bite banishes all thought of frosting and sprinkles.<\/p>\n

The beauty of these cookies is they’re so simple to make.\u00a0 No rolling, no cutting into cutesy shapes, no decorating.\u00a0\u00a0 Just press the dough evenly into a fluted tart pan and bake.<\/p>\n

Over the course of refining this classic recipe and it’s variations, though, I picked up a few tips to make Scottish-style shortbread even better:\u00a0 Use the best butter, handle the dough as little as possible, and chill well before baking to let the flavors develop.<\/p>\n

Butter is the heart and soul of shortbread, so you really don’t want to cut corners here.\u00a0 I used some pricey vat-cultured butter from Sierra Nevada Cheese Company in one batch and the cookies were wonderful.\u00a0 However, the Straus organic European-style butter at 85 percent butterfat also was incredibly good and a little less expensive.<\/p>\n

Although most recipes call for letting the butter soften to room temperature first, I’ve had better results starting with cold butter, cutting it into small chunks and whirling it in the food processor.\u00a0 If the butter is too soft and you beat it too long in an electric mixer, myriad tiny bubbles form in the dough, leading to unwanted rising and bubbling in the oven.<\/p>\n

For the most tender results, you want the dough to be crumbly and loose before you press it into the pan.\u00a0 Like pie dough, it shouldn’t be overworked.\u00a0 It will continue to hydrate in the refrigerator and come together when the butter melts in the oven.<\/p>\n

The vanilla bean shortbread should be a pale yellow when it emerges from the oven.\u00a0 The equally delicious brown sugar variation is a little darker, hinting at its intriguing caramel flavor.<\/p>\n

In deference to chocoholics, I’ve also developed a variation with cocoa and cacao nibs. Those chunky little bits of roasted cacao beans bring an extra layer of flavor to these cookies and it continues to develop as they’re stored after baking.\u00a0 Scharffen Berger makes the nibs, which are readily found at most supermarkets.<\/p>\n

After baking, cool the shortbread completely in the pan before cutting into the wedges known at petticoat tails in Scotland.<\/p>\n

If you really must decorate, you could drizzle these cookies with melted chocolate.\u00a0 But I wouldn’t.\u00a0 They’re perfect just out of the pan.<\/p>\n

VANILLA BEAN SHORTBREAD COOKIES<\/strong>
\nMakes about 16 large cookies<\/em>1\u00a0 3\/4 cups all-purpose flour
\n1\/4 cup cornstarch
\n1\/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
\n1 cup butter (2 sticks), chilled
\n1 vanilla bean
\n3\/4 cup superfine sugar<\/p>\n

Lightly butter a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom or a regular 9-inch cake pan.\u00a0 Alternatively, prepare six 4-inch tart pans for smaller cookies.Sift together flour, cornstarch and sea salt in a small bowl.\u00a0 Set aside.<\/p>\n

Cut sticks of butter lengthwise into quarters and slice those pieces into small cubes. Slice vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out the pulp with the tip of a knife. In the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, whirl butter with vanilla pulp and sugar until smooth.\u00a0 You may have to stop the motor a couple of times and break up the larger clumps.\u00a0\u00a0 Add flour mixture all at once and pulse in bursts just until the butter and flour are well blended.\u00a0 It should still be very loose and crumbly.\u00a0 Don’t let processor run until you have a smooth ball. The dough will come together when it bakes.<\/p>\n

Dump dough into prepared pan.\u00a0 Using a piece of plastic wrap, if necessary, press dough evenly into the pan.\u00a0 Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or, better, overnight.<\/p>\n

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.\u00a0 Remove dough from refrigerator, uncover, score into wedges with a sharp knife and prick all over with a wooden skewer, if desired.\u00a0 If using a regular cake pan, gently press the tines of a fork into the outer edge of the cookies, following the rim of the pan, to create a decorative border.<\/p>\n

Bake for about 1 hour, until firm in the center but still pale. Let cool in pan on a wire rack and cut into wedges along the scored lines while still warm.\u00a0 Cookies may be stored, tightly covered, for 4-5 days or frozen up to 2 months.<\/p>\n

Brown sugar shortbread:<\/strong>\u00a0 Follow main ingredient list, omitting vanilla bean and substituting brown sugar for superfine. Whirl brown sugar in processor to achieve a finer texture before adding butter and proceeding with instructions above.<\/p>\n

Chocolate shortbread with cacao nibs:<\/strong>\u00a0 This variation uses an egg yolk to produce a wetter dough and introduces 1\/4 cup cacao nibs at the end.\u00a0 It will not be much smoother when it’s ready to go into the pan.\u00a0 Substitute top quality cocoa powder for cornstarch and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract for vanilla bean.\u00a0 Add 1 egg yolk to the butter and vanilla mixture and follow instructions above.\u00a0 After adding flour, mix until flour is almost completely incorporated, add the cacao nibs and pulse a couple of times to distribute evenly before pressing dough into pan and chilling.\u00a0 Bake as directed above.<\/p>\n

Aleta Watson<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No matter how much I plan ahead for the holidays, it seems life starts spinning out of control about this time every year. Here it is less than two weeks ’til Christmas and I still haven’t made any of the usual decorated cookies.\u00a0 Maybe sometime next week.\u00a0 Who knows? With these buttery shortbread cookies in … Continue reading Holiday cookies without the fuss<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5320"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5341,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5320\/revisions\/5341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}