Shortbread Cookies - vegan and kosher

While the book, The Holiday Kosher Baker, is all about baking foods for Jewish holidays, the recipes are just plain good. You don't need to make them for a holiday.

No one would point to the shortbread cookies that I made and say, "Kosher Holiday!" The cookies certainly could be used for a kosher holiday, but you could serve them pretty much any time.

Unlike many shortbread recipes, this one doesn't include butter - it uses margarine instead.

While I don't personally have issues with using dairy products, there are plenty of people who have to avoid dairy, so I like to have a few recipes designed for using margarine. Substituting margarine for butter doesn't always work as you'd expect, particularly in baking recipes.

I used cookie stamps to decorate these cookies, and I really like the result - both the decoration and the flavor of the cookies. I'm not going to admit how many of them I ate.

During baking, the cookies didn't spread a lot, and they held their shape and kept the designs that were embossed on top. That's really important if you're using cookie cutters or stamps - otherwise you can end up with strange blobs instead of distinct designs.

A bonus is that the recipe is really simple. There are only three ingredients, so if you happen to keep these on hand, you'd be ready to make these cookies pretty much any time.

However, they need some freezer time to firm up, so you do need to plan at least a little bit in advance.

BUT!!!

You can make the dough well in advance and freeze it, so you'll be ready to bake emergency cookies when you need them. What? You don't have cookie emergencies? Well, then, you can bake just a few at a time, if that's what you want to do.

Shortbread Cookies
Adapted from The Holiday Kosher Baker by Paula Shoyer

1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 cups plus 2 teaspoons all purpose flour (plus more as needed)
1 cup (2 sticks) margarine, cut into chunks

Note: this recipe uses a food processor to do the mixing, which makes it really easy. But I don't see any reason why you couldn't use a stand mixer or electric hand mixer instead. Just make sure you start on low speed so you don't send sugar and flour flying all over your kitchen.

Put the sugar and flour in your food processor fitted with the metal blade. Process for about 10 seconds to blend.

Add the margarine and process until it comes together as a dough.

Remove the dough from the food processor and divide it in half. You can flatten it to disk and wrap in plastic wrap, or place it in a zip-top bags and flatten the pieces to a square shape to fit the bag.

Freeze overnight, or you can leave the dough there several days, until you're in the mood to bake.

When you're ready to bake, heat the oven to 400 degrees and line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the dough from the freezer and let it thaw just until it's soft enough to roll.

Flour your work surface and the top of the dough and roll to 1/4 inch thick. The book suggests rolling the dough between sheets of parchment paper, but I had no problem rolling it without the parchment - do whatever works for you.

Check out my review of the cookie stamps here.

Cut with cookie cutters as desired. I cut mine into rounds and then used Nordicware Geo Cookie Stamps to press a design into each cookie.

Bake 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned on the bottom and you can barely see browning on the edges.

Slide the parchment onto a rack to allow the cookies to cool.

Continue making cookies until all the dough is used.

I received the book from the publisher and the cookie stamps from Nordicware. Check out a review of the book here.

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8 Tips for Making Macarons

Bonne Maman Jams, a Le Creuset Teacup/pot and home made macarons.

Mother's Day is coming, and brunch is traditional for many family celebrations.

Even if the meal isn't technically a brunch, daintier foods tend to prevail. And what's more dainty for dessert than a French Macaron?

No, not macaroons, with coconut. I'm talking about the light, crisp, chewy meringue-related cookies that are French Macarons.

The nice thing about macarons is that the flavors (and colors) are endless. Since the basic cookie is nearly white, you can tint them with a tiny bit of food coloring (the Silpat kit I received came with food coloring for that purpose) or you can find recipes that take on color from their ingredients. Like, say, chocolate.

Then come the fillings. I used a chocolate ganache for this batch, but buttercream would be lovely, or make your own on-the-fly fillings. How about a nut-butter and jam? Or jam and whipped cream cheese? Or just Bonne Maman jam?

Am I saying JAM a lot?

 Well, that's because there's a giveaway here, where the winners will get a Silpat macaron kit, a gift set of Bonne Maman jam/jelly products, and an adorable Le Creuset stoneware tea for one with a cup on the bottom, and you use the top part to brew your tea, So cute.

Won't that be great for Mother's Day? A spot of tea, some English muffins or toast with jam, delicate little sandwiches, and macarons to finish the meal. Oui! 

While macaron perfection is a skill I have yet to master, I've made acceptable macarons a few times, and I've made enough mistakes that I think I can point out places where you might go wrong.

1) Almond flour, finely ground.
If your almond flour isn't super-fine (like flour) give it a buzz in the food processor, maybe with some of the powdered sugar, until it is as fine as you can get it. Some recipes even suggest passing it through a fine sieve.

I made the last batch of macarons with almond flour straight from the bag, and while they tasted fine they were a bit rough on top and the cookies had a different texture than those made with super-finely-ground almonds.

2) Mise en place is your friend.
Have all your ingredients ready and standing by. Separate those eggs, weigh your ingredients, and have everything ready to go before you start whipping and mixing.

You'll need two bowls, the usual assortment of measuring and mixing tools, and a few specialty items as well, like a piping bag.

Here's the macaron kit from Silpat, which includes a mat, piping bag, two tips, a pastry brush (not shown), food colors, a thermometer (did I mention that some macaron recipes are fussy?) and a scraper. The kit also includes a thumb drive with recipes.

3) Whip them right!
Egg whites are what give macarons their lightness and their structure, so you need to whip them to the proper consistency. If you're using a stand mixer to do your whipping, don't walk too far away from it. Underwhipped egg whites just need a little more whipping. Overwhipped whites can't be salvaged.

4) Pipe them right!
Some of my macarons rose oddly - tilted to one side or the other - while others were perfect. This was more likely to happen when I was using a recipe that resulted in a thicker batter and I piped in a circle.

I got better results when I simply put the tip in the center of the circle I was aiming to fill, and piped straight down and let the batter flow to form a circle. This also helped me form an actual circle rather than oval or odd-shaped macarons.

The Silpat Macaron Mat has circles drawn on the mat to make it easy to gauge the size of the macarons and to make perfectly round circles. Those circles would also be useful for cookies or any other food when you're trying to keep them evenly spaced.

5) Let them dry!
For the frilly rise to happen along the sides of the cookies, you need to let them sit around after piping until there's a nice crust on top. Depending on how dry it is in your house, this could be quick, or it could take much, much longer. It's possible to over-dry the cookies, but I don't know for sure what horrors would happen if that was the case - I barely have patience to let them dry enough.

This is NOT supposed to happen!

Some of my cookies had little peaks from piping, and I wanted to get rid of them. To keep my finger from sticking, I dipped it in bit of cold water. This worked really well. I thought. But the tops of those few cookies never dried right, so strange things happened when the cookies baked. These tasted just fine, but there's no way I'd serve them.

6) Bake them long enough - but not too long.

Perfectly pale, acceptably toasted, and ... oops!

Macarons aren't really supposed to brown. A tiny bit along the edges might be okay, but you don't want your white macarons getting a tan in the oven.

7) No, really, let them cool.
Before the macarons are fully cooled, they will stick to the Silpat baking mat like the suckers on a tentacle. If you try to lift them, you will tear the cookie. So you can't peek underneath. You just can't. But when the cookies are fully cooled, they'll pop right off. Be patient!

8) And if all of that doesn't work...
If it goes wrong, claim that you meant to do that. Seriously, unless you're opening a French bakery, perfection isn't required. You're making cookies for your mom. She'll be happy, even if they're a little lopsided.

As for those over-browned cookies - I did that with one batch, and to me the flavor was a little like a toasted marshmallow. I know they weren't supposed to be like that, but I liked the flavor anyway. If all of your macarons are egg-shaped or tilted or over-browned, just smile and serve them. No one needs to know you didn't plan it that way.

Just pour a cup of tea, and relax!

Le Creuset Tea for One

Thanks to the participating companies for sponsoring these group posts and for supplying product for the giveaway!

The other bloggers participating in this giveaway are:

Miss in the Kitchen, who made Macarons with Champagne Buttercream
Foodhunter's Guide who made Chocolate Raspberry Macarons
Thyme in Our Kitchen who made Pistachio Macarons

Giveaway is over!

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Bread Pudding "Dressing" #HolidayHosting

This is week two of my six-week adventure with Anolon products. The theme for the week is Signature Sides, and if there's one side dish that I absolutely love for Thanksgiving, it's stuffing. Or dressing, since I usually cook it outside the turkey these days.

But of course I had to put a crazy twist on it and turn it into bread pudding. It makes sense. Bread pudding is so much more luscious and decadent than most stuffings.

Check it out!

Still not convinced? How about this?

The RECIPE for this is on the Anolon site, waiting for you. Go, click look!

You know you want to try this!

But I'm not done teasing you. Not quite yet. I received six different Anolon products in order to create recipes using them, and  I have ALL SIX Anolon items to give away. The same ones I got. And I'm giving all six to ONE PERSON. Isn't that AWESOME???

I really loved this 9x13 pan. The color is stunning and the handles are really nice. They curve under just a bit, which makes them much easier to hang onto, even while I was wearing mitts.

Besides the giveaway I'm doing, Anolon is having their own giveaways, so be sure to stalk them during this entire promotion - I don't know exactly what they're up to, but I'm sure it will be awesome. They've got very useful products. Sturdy. And also very pretty. A pleasure to use in the kitchen.

The six items I am giving away are:

Anolon Advanced Pie Pan
You saw the APPLE PIE last week, right?

Anolon Vesta Stoneware 9x13” Baker in Paprika Red
This is the one I used for this week's post!

Anolon Nouvelle Copper Hard Anodized 10” Covered Skillet 

Anolon Nouvelle Copper Stainless Steel 3Qt Covered Sauté 

Anolon Advanced Umber 3.5Qt Covered Chef’s Pan

Anolon Vesta Cast Iron 4Qt Oval Covered Casserole in Paprika Red 

Yes, ALL of that to ONE LUCKY WINNER!

The giveaway will end on December 26 at midnight, mountain time. US winners only. The giveaway widget will post with each week's recipe, and I will add NEW ways to enter each week related to the week's new post, like new tweets and new pins. So make sure you come back every week and see what I've made, and ENTER TO WIN!

If you already entered to win last week, there are THREE new entries - a comment request, tweet, and pin added that are related to this week's post.

Want more Anolon in your life?

Like Anolon on Facebook

Follow Anolon on Twitter at @Anolon

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This post is sponsored by Anolon. They supplied products for my use as well as compensation for recipe creation. They are also providing the prizes for the contest winner. Although I was paid to create a recipe, all words and ideas are my own.

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Gadgets: Paper Bakeware

Considering how many baking pans I own, paper bakeware was never really on my radar. But I thought it would be fun to test.

The paper bakeware from Welcome Home Brands comes in a huge variety of sizes, shapes, and colors, either in single sizes or in assortments ($24.99).

They're oven-safe to 400 degrees, and they're freezer safe, so they're great for that emergency dessert that you stuff into the freezer.

Some of the ones I tested had a brown cardboard-looking interior, while others were white inside, but in use I didn't notice any difference between them. The interiors are coated, so the pans didn't need to be greased. So far, all the baked goods I tried came out of the pan easily. Or, really, I peeled the pan off of the baked goods, like you'd remove the paper from a cupcake.

While these are sturdy enough to stand on their own (but not completely rigid), I put them on a baking sheet for easy transport into and out of the oven.

My first thought was that these would be nice for making baked goods as gifts since the pans colorful and relatively inexpensive. Size-wise, the pans range from small(ish), down to cute and tiny. The loaf pans in the photo are approximately 7x3, 5x3 and 4x2, so the smallest is about equal to a cupake, but in loaf form.

But then I realized that they're even more interesting because of the range of shapes and sizes, and many of those sizes aren't available in metal bakeware.

I'm particularly liking the round baking pan. It's about 4 1/2 inches in diameter, so it could be used make cute little pies or quiches, but it would also be a a lot of fun to use it to make miniature layer cakes.

The only downside - and it's not a big one - is that since you're working with pans that are a different size and shape than a normal cake or cupcake pan, it's likely you'll need to adjust the baking time to compensate.

Overall, I really like these pans. I'm not about to replace my metal baking pans, but I like having other options, and these don't take a whole lot of storage space.

The product was supplied for the purpose of a review on Serious Eats; this was previously published on Serious Eats.

Quick note, because I know someone's going to ask ... the cakes in the photos were baked from mixes. I didn't want to be testing a recipe at the same time I was testing the bakeware, and I figured that boxed mixes would be a good "standard" recipe.

The crumb cake is Krusteaz brand, and I have to say it's pretty darned good. I'd buy it again, for sure.

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