Shortbread success!

When I wrote about yesterday's shortbread fail, I wasn't lying when I said I was still craving some. Seriously, shortbread cookies are made of win. They are like, the perfect stereotypical English snack to have with tea. Granted, I'm American so that doesn't mean much, but they're still really tasty.

Repost of yesterday's recipe:

1 cup of flour
1 stick of butter, room temp
1/2 cup of sugar (I used brown)
1 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

I rarely have painted nails, but when I do, they're usually black :D

So, blend everything together, the mixture will look like this after 4 or so minutes of blending.

See how it looks compacted together? after 6 or 8 minutes of blending, the dough sticks together like this and it is done. Stick it in the fridge for a while if you plan on rolling the dough.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface, and knead it until it stick together....


like this!

Roll about a quarter inch thick. You will have to flour the rolling pin, and the dough really likes to fall apart. But you are stronger then the dough!

I used a plastic cup as a cookie cutter. It worked better then my real cookie cutter did!

You will probably have to use a spatula to get the cookies off of the counter.

Poke the cookies with a fork, it helps release the steam. Also, my cookie sheet is permanently burned from yesterday's mess. It was a wedding present too :(


I baked them at 425 for 4 minutes, and they were still a little crisp, so maybe they should be baked at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

And the shortbread cookies were a perfect snack with a peach and with some Earl Gray tea. Soo good.

shortbread fail

*sigh*

This was supposed to be delicious shortbread cookies. I am seriously craving shortbread still, and I ate the middle out of the least-burnt cookie and it was delicious, so I know that I made up a good recipe. So I might be making this again tomorrow, and actually remember to press start on the timer, dagnabit.

I used the last of my real vanilla extract on these, too :(

Recipe:

1 cup of flour
1 stick of butter, room temp
1/2 cup of sugar (I used brown)
1 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, and blend together with a pastry blender until the mixture sticks together (this took me like, 5-8 minutes). Chill the dough, roll out on a flour-covered surface, and cut out shapes. Bake in a 425 degree oven, probably for 9 minutes but I don't know, since I forgot to set the timer :/

broiled apricots

Yay! Summer is finally here in the Great Northwest. Which means that those of us living in apartments typically do not have AC, and are sweating it out right now. But it also means that local fruit is finally getting in season, if a few weeks late (only one of my tomato plants has even blossomed).

Inspired by Gluten-Free Girl's latest post, I made a very simple dish out of some local apricots, and it was yummy.


Start with a greased cast-iron skillet. I love cast iron. It is both awesome cookware and a formidable weapon. (Kidding!)

Cut apricots (and I threw a peach in there too because it was getting soft) into quarters and put in the pan. Sprinkle lightly with sugar, chopped rosemary, and chopped mint leaves.

Bake in the oven at 375 F for 20 minutes, and then broil for 3 minutes, watching carefully.

These broiled for 4 minutes, which was obviously a bit too long.

Aaaaand eat them! These would be good on ice cream, mixed into yogurt, or even into oatmeal. Plain is nice too.

I had to add more sugar at the end because even though the apricots were local and supposedly in season, they were dang sour. A bit more sugar fixed that though.

I totally want to try this again with peach halves and basil. Mmm.

Happy summer (finally) everyone!