This and that: Shortbread

Showing posts with label Shortbread. Show all posts

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Fill the Cookie Jar - Cherry Shortbread Cookies

Have you ever halved a recipe but didn't half all the ingredients like salt? That is what I did with this recipe when I made it. I had decided to only make half this recipe as I am really trying hard to watch my weight... and all I seem to do is watch the numbers get bigger and bigger. So to make a long story short... my cookies for this month's Fill the Cookie Jar were just a bit salty...

Fill the Cookie Jar with Chocolate Almond Shortbread

Diamond, Flowers and Chocolate are the perfect gift for Valentine's Day. Although I can't give you diamonds.... I will give you some chocolate with maybe a decorated flower or two to fill your cookie jar this Valentine's Day... The catch is that you have to make them yourself but they are worth it if you like a chocolate cookie with a crunch that melt in your mouth.

Meyer Lemon Shortbread Cheesecake Bars

Last week I decided to do some baking for Easter. I had some Meyer Lemons and I had wanted to make some Lemon Shortbread cookies. If any of you follow my blog or facebook page on a regular basis, you know that I don't always read recipes and just pick what I want out of a recipe and make up the rest.

Well, to make a long story short this is what my dough looked like:

Not really the dough I had in mind when I was starting out my cookies.

I did finally get my cookies made and the recipe is here,

but my dilemma was 'What was I going to do with all the crumbs?'

So I did what any sane person would do.... I went to facebook and asked my followers...

Here are some of the suggestions I got:

Pie crust with added coconut oil... yum I am going to try that

Topping for a fruit crisp dessert... Yes, for sure with the lemon in the dough...

Using for a crustless quiche

and lastly CHEESECAKE..

SHORTBREAD, LEMON FILLING, CHEESECAKE!

Sounds like a winning combination for me and it was...

So YUMMY!

Meyer Lemon Shortbread Cheesecake Bars

adapted Cheesecake Lemon Bars

Bottom Layer Shortbread Crust:

I used my Meyer Lemon Shortbread Cookie recipe with only 1/2 cup margarine. This made close to 3 times the amount you really would need.

You could use any shortbread crust recipe.

Lemon Filling (Middle Layer):

4 eggs

1 1/2 cup white sugar

1 tbsp all purpose flour

1 tbsp lemon zest

1/2 cup lemon juice

Cream Cheese Layer (Top Layer):

2 - 8oz cream cheese

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs (beaten)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In 9 x 13 pan press shortbread crust on bottom and sides of pan. Bake for approx 10 - 15 minutes until lightly brown. Set aside to cool.

In mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, white sugar, flour, lemon juice and zest. Pour this mixture over crust.

Mix cream cheese and sugar until well mixed. Add beaten eggs. Pour over lemon mixture. Bake for 40-50 minutes until filling is set.

***These mixtures will separate once baked. I was surprised that they did.

***I used a water bath to make mine. I placed a pan filled half full of water on the rack below the bars.

*** next time I would add just a small amount more of shortbread crust. I added about 2 cups of the mixture I had, so would probably increase it to 3.

Enjoy ~ I added some canned cherry pie filling on top.

✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ Marlys

(¯`✻´¯)
`*.¸.*✻✿*.¸.*✻ Enjoy your day....`*.¸.*✻✿*.¸.*✻

Links: Swap and Share, Thursday's Treasure, Food Holiday Link Party

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Meyer Lemon Shortbread Cookies

At the end of last year I was participating in a Foodie Penpal program. I loved that program and need to start doing it again. Anyways, one month, my penpal sent me some lemon cookies that tasted like a lemon shortbread. For Easter I wanted to make something similar that I could cut into shapes.

I had found some Meyer Lemons at our local Walmart Superstore. I had never tried Meyer Lemons but as everyone was making recipes with them, I thought they must be great. I decided that I would combine a shortbread recipe with lemon juice and use cookie cutters to make them look Eastery (is that a word, it is today!).

I found a recipe for Lavender Shortbread Cookies from Allrecipes, that I thought would work perfect with a few minor changes. It was a perfect recipe once I got it right. I had to make the dough three times before I got them to work out. Mainly because I don't always read recipes. My first two batches ended up being just crumbs as when I finally read the recipe, I realized that I didn't put in enough butter. But I did use some of the crumbs for another recipe that I will share in the next day or two.

Meyer Lemon Shortbread Cookies

adapted from Lavender Shortbread Cookies

1 1/2 cup softened butter

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar)

2 tsp lemon zest ( zest of one Meyer lemon)

1 tbsp Meyer Lemon juice

1/4 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup corn starch

In bowl, cream together sugars and butter until light and fluffy. Add lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla and mix well. In separate bowl combine flour and corn starch. Mix the flour mixture into the butter mixture slowly until well combined. Divide dough into two balls and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Flatten the balls slightly and refrigerate for about an hour ~ until firm. (I put mine in the freezer for about 1/2 hour until firm).

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut cookies with a cookie cutter (I used a flower and egg shape). Place on cookie sheet.

Bake for approximately 16-20 minutes until edges just start turning brown. Cool for a few minutes on baking sheet and then transfer to wire rack to continue cooling. Enjoy!

These cookies were delicious, very close to the cookies that my foodie penpal sent me. The only thing I think I will do different is put a little more lemon in them. The cookies that were sent had a very distinct lemon flavour to them. Maybe I will use lemons and Meyer lemons next time. That is if I have any Meyer lemons left. We loved the Meyer Lemons and my husband ate one by it self.

These cookies are great with coffee or tea..

✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ Marlys

(¯`✻´¯)

`.¸.✻✿.¸.✻ Enjoy your day....`.¸.✻✿.¸.✻

Links: Tasty Thursdays, Weekend Re-treat, I love my post, Marvelous Mondays

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies.

I decided to have a cookie exchange this year and was going through my recipes for different cookies that I could make. I really wanted to make sand tarts but was very got frustrated trying to make them as the cookies didn't want to come out of the tart shells... so decided to make thumbprint cookies instead with the dough. These cookies taste like short bread cookies with jam... I had gotten some royal fig preserve from my Foodie Pen Pal and thought this was perfect for these cookies. The recipe I received from my cousin and I am not sure where she got it from.

Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies

1 cup margarine

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg

2 1/2 cup flour

jam/jelly/preserve (I used Royal Fig Preserve)

Icing ( made of 1 tsp butter, 1 cup powdered sugar and enough milk to make icing runny)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Whip margarine and sugar together. Add eggs and beat until fluffy. Add flour slowly and beat until ingredients are mixed. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, place on cookie sheet. Press thumb in center of cookie. Add approximately 1 tsp of jam/jelly/preserves into thumbprint mark. Bake for 5 - 7 minutes. Cool cookies on baking rack. Once cookies are cooled, drizzle icing over them.