I was out of town at a work conference Wednesday morning, but when I got back that afternoon, I was pleased to discover that Lila and Allyson had made plans to meet to bake shortbread. I let them know I was back in town and packed up to go to Allyson's place to bake. Routine was just what I needed after a semi-stressful few days.
When Lila, Alison and I started out baking a few years ago, we rotated who was hosting each week, and brought ingredients over as needed. Over time it morphed into baking at my house, partially because I have aspirations to open a bakery in the future, and partially because I have more counter-space, and my pantry is filling up with common (and some unique) ingredients as I get more into things. Lila and Allyson usually bring over fun tools, and contribute to ingredients (both the uncommon and replenishing the oft-used standards), but for the past stretch, it has always been my kitchen where the baking took place. It was fun to mix it up this week, though the set of "at hand" tools and ingredients was different.
I found several shortbread recipes in my cookbooks, and picked the easiest/ most adaptable one from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.
The recipe was pretty simple. We opted for the plain shortbread, though we did consider adding some of the flavored teas Allyson had (the recipe options provide for Rose Water Shortbread, Lavender Shortbread and Earl Gray Shorbread alternate flavors). We may re-visit the recipe in the future and try one of the floral or tea flavored varieties.
Lila read out instructions, Allyson manned the mixer, and I measured out ingredients. We did not have the "tart pan" that the recipe called for, but Allyson did have this cute heart-shaped cake pan which we used instead. We knew the difference in material and thickness of the dough would cause differences from the recipe, and set the timer short so we could keep an eye on how it was baking.
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| Dough, mixed. |
Once the dough was done, we pressed it into the pan, and Lila scored the top with a fork, putting in holes that reached about half-way down. When the edges were starting to darken, we called it "done" and removed it from the oven.
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| Poking holes in the dough |
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| Nice and golden. |
Cutting pieces from a heart-shaped pan was an interesting challenge, one that Allyson faced with a practical solution. Cut in a grid, like you would anything else. The shortbread had a nice flavor, and luckily for me, Lila had brought over some decaf Earl Gray tea, which was a very yummy compliment.
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| A bit damp in the center, but delicious. |
We did find that the outer pieces were more "done" and the pieces from the middle were almost doughy, though not quite. The cookies did feel denser in the middle, though, due to to almost dampness. Overall, though, it was a delicious treat, and would definitely go well with tea or coffee.
New tools/ ingredients: heart-shaped pan
Recipes used: Old-Fashioned Pie-Plate Shortbread, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, page 215-217
Co-bakers: Allyson, Lila
Date: May 18, 2011
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