Apricot Shortbread Cookies

These cookies came out softer instead of hard and crisp like typical shortbread, probably due to the moisture in the preserved apricots. I had to use a lot more flour for dusting to roll these out. Since the dough is going to go into the refrigerator after mixing, it's better to use chilled butter than room temperature butter.

apricot shortbread cookies, a perfect complement to tea

Ingredients

2 c all purpose flour
1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 c dried apricots, finely chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp kosher salt

Directions

1. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse briefly until combined. Add butter by the tablespoon and pulse into the flour mixture until coarse crumbs form. Add vanilla extract and pulse to combine.

2. Take dough out and put it into a re-sealable container. Let dough chill in the refrigerator for an hour, or until firm.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

3. Lightly flour a sheet of parchment paper and roll out half the dough until it is 1/4" thick. Cut into shapes. Prick each shape with the tines of a fork.

These cookies will not expand much, so laying out the cookies half an inch apart will suffice.

4. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are browned and the tops are lightly browned.

5. Let finished cookies cool on a baking rack before eating or storing.

Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

If you enjoy the salty-sweet taste of kettle corn at the farmers market, you'll definitely enjoy these cookies. The savory cookie is a more adult version of the cookie genre. Something that you'd probably not nibble on over tea, but would go down pretty well with a glass of wine. All of my bakeware is in storage, so I'll have to improvise and borrow the toy cutters from my nephew's toy bake set. Hehehe. This ingredient ratio comes from Gourmet Magazine.

Ingredients

2 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1/3 c confectioners (powdered) sugar
2 tbsp raw mild honey, clover or wildflower
1 tbsp organic granulated cane sugar
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, stems removed, leaves coarsely chopped
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

1. Whirl together dry ingredients in a food processor. Add in butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Empty contents into a container with a lid. Cover and refrigerate until firm.

2. Roll out cookie dough to 1/4" thickness and cut out with cookie cutters. Place unbaked cookies on a parchment-lined or Silpat-lined baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops are lightly golden brown. Let cookies cook on a wire rack.

Alternative Flavorings:

Savory Thyme Cookies: substitute with fresh thyme

Almond Shortbread Cookies

What's to not like about shortbread? While it's packed with butter, it has a light, crispy texture and doesn't feel like it's ladened with fat at all. I should also add that this is a cookie that doesn't take kindly to fat substitutions. This ingredient ratio is a spin on the classical shortbread cookie, with the addition of almond meal and almond extract.

When I lived in Los Angeles, I never had to worry about how cold it was in the kitchen to be able to cream butter and sugar together. Here in the NW, with a six-month rainy season, it is both damp and cold indoors during the winter so I wasn't able to cream the butter after allowing it to sit at room temperature. Instead, what I did was use a pastry blender and cut the butter into the brown sugar, then added the dry ingredients and mixed until strudel-like crumbs formed.

Ingredients

1 1/2 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
1 c. unsalted butter (two sticks; 8 oz), cut into small pieces
3/4 c. light brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. almond meal (ground almonds)
1/4 c. cornstarch
pinch of salt

3 tbsp cold water + 1 tsp almond extract (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. [where possible] Cream butter and brown sugar together with a stand or handheld mixer. Add in flour, almond meal, salt, and cornstarch, and mix until coarse crumbs form. If the cookie dough doesn't come together, add a little bit of water so that it does.

2. Gather the dough into a ball, square, or large mound and let rest on a plate, baking sheet, or on parchment paper and let it rest for a few minutes in the refrigerator.

3. Between a sheet of parchment paper and wax paper, roll out dough until it is 1/8" thick. Peel back the wax paper and cut dough into rectangles, squares, odd shapes. You could even use cookie cutters, but you'll need to either use chilled metal cookie cutters or lightly floured cookie cutters so they don't stick to the cookie when lifted off the parchment paper.

It is important to keep this dough chilled before it goes into the oven. This is to help the cookies retain the shape they were cut into, and so that the butter doesn't melt faster than how the cookie bakes. 

(optional) You can also press the dough into a tart pan (with a removable bottom) and bake for 15-20 minutes until the surface is lightly golden brown. 

4. Space cookies about an inch apart and prick each cookie with the tines of a fork. The cookies will expand slightly when baking. Bake cookies on a parchment-lined baking tray for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack before serving.

Note: If you are making almond meal (also, almond flour) from scratch, do not over-pulse the raw whole unblanched almonds in the nut grinder, spice mill, or coffee grinder or you'll be making almond butter instead. The almond meal should be able to pass through a flour sifter. The larger bits can be put through the grinder again.