Valentine's Shortbread

Oops - just discovered this post in draft form from the year before last! With Valentine's Day not that far off I thought I'd post it now to give you a little time to eat-- test a couple of batches before Feb 14th finally arrives!  I might even be making some more myself, I think the husband will probably appreciate it more than the crochet hearts I was planning --to suit myself-- !
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So, whilst I love the way my darling husband spoiled me for Valentine's Day, I personally refuse to spend money on such a commercially inspired occasion. That being said I still want to take every opportunity to show my chap how much he means to me, so I make him something sweet to make him smile. Shortbread is one of his favourite things and, several years having now elapsed since the shortbread disaster of 2007 (it turned out that my scales were broken, but it still left me with a shortbread paranoia) I felt brave enough to have another stab at it.

I found a well-recommended recipe online, adjusted it to add choc chunks and make the pieces heart-shaped and baked him a batch which, I am reliably informed, was utterly delicious ;-)





I also drew him a card (which still needs colouring in, oops). I think he liked it.

So... do you mark the day? What did you do this year?

Valentine's Shortbread
115g unsalted butter, at room temperature
55g caster sugar
Pinch of salt
130g plain flour
35g ground rice
50g dark chocolate chopped into large chunks
Caster sugar, to finish1. Pre-heat the oven to 150C. Put the butter into a large mixing bowl, and beat until soft. Beat in the sugar and salt.2. Sift in the flour and ground rice and mix to a smooth dough; add a little extra butter if it doesn't come together into a dough3. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment, and pat the dough out to 1cm thickness and use a heart shaped cutter to cut into biscuits place on the baking sheet and put in the fridge to chill for 15 minutes until firm. 4. Bake for around half an hour until cooked through, but not browned. 5. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes, then sprinkle with caster sugar and transfer to a wire rack. Once cold, these should last for a good few days in an airtight container

The *Goood* Cookies

Over the past few years I have been conducting interested research into cookies. My quest has been to find the ideal recipe for a homemade cookie - something that will produce the delicious crispy round the edges, chewy in the middle American style platter-sized cookie that I've only ever been able to buy.

Well, for a long time this research turned up tasty, yet *wrong* cookies. Finally, about a year ago, I came across a recipe on the BBC food page which, once tested, was promptly saved and renamed as "The *Goood* Cookies". Large, pale gold, lumpy with chocolate chunks, crispy round the edges and chewy soft in the centre they are exactly what I was hoping to create.

The stress earlier this week sent me to my cupboards in my automatic stress-reaction of baking followed by eating and I turned up this recipe again. Perfect. I only had dark chocolate, but i chopped it up and made a batch of acceptable, but slightly solid cookies. Yesterday I tried again. I made sure to measure out the flour exactly (I deliberately used too much last time, a mistake I now realise) and doubled my quantities so I could make two flavours. I cooked them up and have a classic and a new delicious favourite:- milk choc chip cookies and white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies. OMG - yum! Not sure whether my work colleagues will get to share *these* batches, though it'd probably be better for my waistline if they do. Perhaps I'll make some small ones ;-)

The recipe below is written from memory and includes my own little adjustments. Apologies for the changes between imperial and metric measurement - that's just how they stick in my mind!

Ingredients
3 1/2 oz granulated sugar
2 1/2 oz soft light brown sugar
125g unsalted butter
150g plain flour
150g goodies to add in (chocolate, nuts, raisins, a mixture thereof - whatever you fancy, but I recommend the white choc and macadamia nut mixture. Dried cranberries are nice too...)
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to Gas mark 4/180 degrees. Melt the butter slowly in a small, heavy pan. When melted pour into the sugars and beat well. Add in the egg and then the dry ingredients. When you have a nice homogenous cookie dough mix in your goodies and leave the bowl in a cool place until it firms up a little - do not add more flour like I did, it's not a good idea.

Place heaped tea spoonfuls of the mixture far apart on a sheet on baking parchment on a baking sheet. Put in the oven and cook for between 8 and 15 minutes depending on a number of things like the size of your cookies and the efficacy of your oven. My oven is so poor it takes about 20 minutes to cook them, but my mum's amazing Neff oven cooks them in 8 - so be aware!

When they're done the cookies will be about 3 times the diameter that they were, very flat, golden brown round the edges and with a shiny crackled glaze across the surface. Remove from oven, leave to cool a little, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Whilst they're very hot they'll be all floppy so don't try to take them off the tray immediately.

Eat with a tall glass of cold milk and revel in the American-ness ;-)

Cooked cookies will keep in an airtight tin for a few days (though not in my house, cos they get eaten within a day). Or you can divide them into balls and freeze them, wrapped in baking paper and foil (or in a long sausage affair which you chop slices off) then you can drop a few on a tray and whack them in a hot oven - hey presto! Instant fresh homemade cookies. How to fool people into thinking you're a Domestic Goddess!