Strawberry Shortbread Cookies

I hadn’t brought cookies to work in a while, and I figured that I would have some time to bake. Of course, I chose a recipe that looked great but then didn’t actually make that many cookies! This recipe makes less than two dozen cookies, and not all of them were ready for prime time, so I just took some to my friend at work rather than bringing the entire batch. Soon I will bring something for the bigger group!

This recipe is a roll-out cookie, which isn’t something I make that frequently. They really aren’t that hard to make, and I have made more recently so I am starting to feel more comfortable with the process. These are roll-out shortbread cookies, with some added freeze-dried strawberries. I had those on hand since I had used them previously, so I didn’t have to get any additional ingredients to make these. I used my egg cookie cutter since Easter is so soon, but you could honestly use any shape.

The dough for these is very simple, and you hardly need to crush the freeze-dried strawberries as I added to the dough and the mixer does a good job of crushing them. The first roll is the hardest, when the dough is cold, but it gets better. The original recipe used a white chocolate glaze, but I changed that to a powdered sugar icing. I was a little short on glaze, so I did end up sprinkling the cookies with additional crushed freeze-dried strawberries to make them look fancy. I like these cookies, I don’t think that the strawberry flavor is strong, but they look lovely.

Strawberry Shortbread Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
½ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ¼ cups flour
¼ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup freeze-dried strawberries, crushed

¾ cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon freeze dried strawberries, crushed into powder
2-4 tablespoons milk

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla on medium until light. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour and salt. When the dough is almost fully formed, stir in the crushed freeze-dried strawberries. Divide the dough into two halves. Shape each half into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

On a lightly floured surface, roll one piece of the dough until about ¼” thick. Cut the desired shapes out and place on the prepared baking sheet. Reroll the dough one additional time, then repeat with the second piece of dough. The number of cookies will depend on the size of your cookie cutter.

Bake the cookies 15-20 minutes, until beginning to turn golden. The thickness of your cookies will impact whether your cookies bake for a shorter or longer time.

Once the cookies come out of the oven, allow then to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies are cool, make the glaze: in a small bowl combine the powdered sugar and powdered freeze-dried strawberries. Add 2 tablespoons milk, whisking frequently, until the glaze is the right consistency. If too thin add additional powdered sugar, additional milk if too thick.

Drizzle the icing over the cooled cookies. Sprinkle with additional crushed freeze-dried strawberries if desired. Allow the glaze to set before serving.

Recipe from Little Vintage Bakery

Pop Tart Inspired Shortbread Bars

I came across this recipe and honestly, with the sprinkles on top of these bars I couldn’t resist. I know that funfetti and that sort of thing is really popular right now, but it isn’t something that I seek out. These were different, and they are inspired by pop tarts. I haven’t really eaten pop tarts in ages, and they likely don’t taste as good as I recall, but I still have a fondness for them.

The original recipe called for strawberry preserves, but I ended up using the preserves that I had in the correct quantity, which in this case was blackberry preserves, that was made by my friend at work. I think it worked well and the flavor was not any different. I also used milk in the icing rather than heavy cream. The heavy cream would be thicker, and I do know that my icing took forever to set, so perhaps that would make a difference.

The dough for these bars is very soft, but it wasn’t too hard to work with. When I first read through the instructions, I was unsure why I needed the 8” square of waxed paper. I ended up using it to shape the top dough for the bars and then I could just put it into place. I worried that the waxed paper would stick, but it peeled off quite easily. I thought it was a brilliant approach. Does this taste like a pop tart? A little bit. I love the combination of butter cookie and preserves, and you can never go wrong with sprinkles!

Pop Tart Inspired Shortbread Bars
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup almond flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup preserves, chilled

1 cup powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon almond extract
2-4 tablespoons milk
Rainbow sprinkles

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Have an 8” square of waxed paper ready, which will be used in shaping the topping of the bars.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, and salt; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and powdered sugar and mix on low to start, then increasing to medium speed. Beat until the mixture is light. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and almond extract.

With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed to make sure all of the flour is incorporated. The dough will be soft. Divide the dough into two halves. Press half of the dough into the base of the prepared pan. Top with the preserves and place the pan in the refrigerator.

With the other half of the dough, place it on the 8” square of waxed paper and shape it to fit the paper. Remove the bars from the refrigerator and flip the shortbread on top of the preserves. Carefully peel away the waxed paper and spread the dough to the edges of the pan if needed.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Allow the shortbread to cool before icing.

Make the icing: in a medium bowl whisk together the powdered sugar and almond extract. Add about two tablespoons of milk, whisking until the icing is smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add additional milk as needed. Remove the bars from the pan and spread the top with the icing. Top with rainbow sprinkles. Allow the glaze to set in the refrigerator before cutting into bars.

Recipe from Butternut Bakery

Samoa-Inspired Bars

I know that it’s a long way from Girl Scout Cookie season, but I see recipes and I am always curious how they will turn out. Usually, I end up not making Samoas (aka Caramel DeLites) because of having to roll out dough or some other complexity like that. This is a bar cookie, and I figured I could handle that a little better. In the end I did make some changes for simplicity sake, to make the cookies more “true to form,” but yes, I really just made the change as it was easier.

This is not a quick cookie to make. You end up making them over two days, with lots of time for the bars to chill between steps. You also get to make caramel, which can be fussy. This made a larger quantity which works better, plus I had some heavy cream to use up. I had a newer candy thermometer that works great, and that has helped a lot with my uncertainty in making caramel. It doesn’t rest on the bottom of the pan and give a false reading, and is otherwise easy to use. It doesn’t fog up like my old one did!

The original recipe had you cut the bars and then dip the base in melted chocolate, then flip them upside down to set the chocolate. That seemed needlessly complicated, especially since Samoas are known for the chocolate stripes on top. Since it is difficult to cut chocolate stripes, I cut the bars and then drizzled with chocolate and that was perfect. Do store these in the refrigerator; some of the edges were on a plate on the counter and they became a big, caramel mess. (Still tasty though!) They are the perfect combination of shortbread, caramel, coconut and a hint of chocolate. While I don’t equate them to eating a Samoa cookie, they are still wonderful.

Samoa-Inspired Bars
1 cup butter, room temperature
113 grams powdered sugar
240 grams flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cup butter
170 grams heavy cream
300 grams sugar
156 grams light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
50 grams coconut flakes

¾ cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vegetable shortening

Line a 9” square pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium mixer bowl, beat the butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and beat on medium until smooth. With the mixer running on low, mix in the flour, salt, and vanilla. Press the dough into the prepared pan and prick the dough with a fork. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Bake the shortbread for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown around the edges. Allow to cool completely before moving on to the next step.

Make the caramel: in a medium saucepan over medium low heat, melt the butter. When the butter is nearly melted, add the heavy cream to warm it. Set aside. In a separate saucepan, combine the sugar and light corn syrup over medium low heat, stirring frequently until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil. Do not stir, instead swirl the pan to encourage even cooking. After about 10 minutes, the mixture will turn an amber color. At the point, remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the butter/heavy cream mixture.

Add a candy thermometer to the pan and return the pan to medium-high heat. Stir the mixture frequently until the thermometer reaches 248 degrees. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour the caramel over the shortbread base and the sprinkle with the coconut, stirring gently to distribute them evenly. Allow the bars to come to room temperature, then refrigerate overnight.

To finish: remove the bars from the pan and peel away the foil. Cut the bars into small squares.
Melt the chocolate and vegetable shortening in the microwave, stirring the mixture every 30 seconds. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag and cut off a small piece of the tip. Drizzle the chocolate over the bars in a diagonal pattern. Refrigerate the bars until the chocolate is set.

Store the bars in the refrigerator, but allow them to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.

Recipe from Sloane’s Table

Ginger Layer Shortbread

I occasionally browse British and similar ex-pat blogs for recipes that are just a little different. I usually can find new and interesting recipe, and oftentimes I have the ingredients I need on hand, something similar, or ask for an ingredient that I can buy at the local British shop. This recipe falls into that category and was one of the easiest recipes that I have ever made.

While the originator of this recipe is Irish, although they now live in the states. Typically, seeing the word “traybake” tells me that the person comes from the British Isles or perhaps Australia, and that is the name of their blog. I suppose in Australia it is more common to see “slices” but traybake is not a term used here in the states. The recipe measurements are in grams, which I think makes everything easier. The original recipe called for ginger marmalade, which they have at the British store, but I already had ginger curd on hand, so I used that.

The strangest thing about this recipe is that it called for a 7” square pan, which isn’t a size I have. I do have an 8” square pan, but that’s a third more volume than the original pan would be. The easiest solution was to simply make 1.3 times the recipe and use my 8” pan. That leads to some strange quantities, but in grams it matters little. Even with the slightly larger pan, this recipe makes a petite quantity, about 15 cookies. These bars are the perfect shortbread, not too sweet, with the ginger providing an extra element of flavor. Yes, they are slightly crumbly, but worth the crumbles.

Ginger Layer Shortbread
290 grams flour
¼ teaspoon salt    
143 grams butter, cut into pieces
110 grams sugar
About ½ cup ginger curd/marmalade

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, mix the flour and salt. Add the sugar and butter and mix until the dough is crumbly. Divide the dough into two halves, and press half of the dough into the prepared pan. Dot the bottom crust with ginger curd/marmalade and spread as evenly as possible. Crumble the remaining dough on top of the ginger filling and press down slightly.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. The bars will be slightly golden but do not brown significantly.

Remove the bars from the pan and cut into squares.

Recipe from Traybakes & More

Blossom Cookies

My husband and I were recently at Target, and I had to step away, leaving him to go through the check stand. We were done shopping, but in the car, he mentioned things we had bought that I did not know about. When we unpacked the items at home, I discovered that we were the proud owners of two different types of holiday Hershey’s Kisses: Hot Cocoa and Sugar Cookie Kisses. My husband thought I could bake something with them.

Having two types of Kisses was a challenge for me. Should I make a chocolate dough or a shortbread dough? In the end, I made two different doughs, and made each type of dough with have Hot Cocoa Kisses and half Sugar Cookie Kisses. I think a bit of contrast is nice with the cookies, and I do have to say that the shortbread blossoms with the two types of Kisses looked quite plain. They were still tasty, so I guess that is ok?

The chocolate cookies were easy to put together and the dough wasn’t quite as crumbly. In reading the original recipe, it suggested allowing the cookies to rest slightly before topping with a Hershey’s Kiss. This is a good idea, especially as the Hot Cocoa Kisses are filled with marshmallow and thus very soft. Some of those Kisses melted a bit with the shortbread cookies, but it wasn’t an issue with the chocolate cookies. Overall, both cookies were good, but the chocolate ones are certainly prettier.

Chocolate Blossoms
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-3 tablespoons milk
Additional sugar/sanding sugar/sprinkles
Hershey’s Kisses, unwrapped

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt; set aside.  In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat on medium until light. Add the egg, yolk, and vanilla and mix again on medium to incorporate. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. Add milk, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together.

Shape the dough into balls and roll in the additional sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 10 minutes, until set. Allow the cookies to cool 5-6 minutes before topping each with an unwrapped Hershey’s Kiss.

Recipe from Garnish and Glaze

Shortbread Blossoms
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
Extra sugar/sanding sugar/sprinkles
 Hershey's Kisses, unwrapped

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, flour, salt, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Beat on medium to combine. The mixture may be crumbly but with come together with further mixing.     

Shape the dough into balls and roll in the additional sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheets and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand.

Bake for 12-14 minutes, until set. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to set for a few minutes before topping each cookie with an unwrapped Hershey’s Kiss.

Recipe from It’s Always Autumn

Cherry Bon Bon Cookies

It’s almost Valentine’s Day and I thought that I would find something festive to make. I figured that I had some cherries on hand, so that was my starting point. I came across many recipes that I had already made, as I suppose the selection out there isn’t the greatest. Many cherry cookies are for Christmas, and while I do make Christmas-like cookies frequently, I wanted to avoid that here. I found these cookies, stuffed with cherries, and thought they would be great.

My only issue was that I had candied cherries instead of maraschino cherries. I figured they would work well enough, although they are sticky! I didn’t have the cherry juice for the icing, but I knew I would figure something out. The cherry juice is for color and a little flavor, and I could use some food coloring to have it at least look correct. I’m not certain there is much of a better substitution, unless you used cherry extract. While cherry extract does exist, I didn’t have any on hand.

Any cookie that you mold dough around a center is going to be a little bit fussy, and this is no exception. It doesn’t make the biggest batch, so that’s a relief! The cookie is very simple, basically a shortbread-type cookie with no additional leavening. The cherry adds the sweetness, as does the icing. In the end, I replaced the cherry juice with milk and added some food coloring. It’s a bit darker than I had planned, but it is still festive. If you are having a plethora of sweetness this weekend, these cookies add all the festivity and just a little bit of sweet.

Cherry Bon Bon Cookies
About 24 maraschino cherries, divided
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cherry juice

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Drain the cherries, reserving the juice. In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and powdered sugar on medium until light. Stir in the flour, salt, milk, and vanilla. Using about a tablespoon of dough, shape the dough around each cherry, making sure that the cherry is completely enclosed by dough. Place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 14-16 minutes, until set. Allow the cookies to cool completely before adding the icing.

Make the icing: in a small bowl whisk together the melted butter, powdered sugar, and the ¼ cup of reserved cherry juice. Drizzle the icing over the cooled cookies.

Recipe from Food Lovin’ Family

Butterscotch Toffee Shortbread

I have to say that summer is certainly not my season and I am looking forward to cooler weather this fall. Baking in the summer is difficult, but I have tried to bake when the house isn’t too warm. I’m also glad that so far, we’ve only had a couple of very warm days. September is when the weather usually begins to cool, and even if the day is warm, it will cool off in the evening and overnight. Let’s hope that this is true this year!

Since I have been working remotely, I haven’t been taking cookies to work, and I really miss that. I had the opportunity to visit with my coworker friend so that we could (socially distanced) watch Hamilton via Disney Plus. I figured I would make cookies as I don’t often have that opportunity. I did use rubber gloves and washed my hands a lot, so I never actually touched the dough. I do have to say that it’s challenging trying to be so careful, but I am getting used to it. 

I made a half batch of this recipe and it ended up making about 18 cookies. I didn’t do the best job in cutting the cookies in even slices, so that will certainly impact the baking time. The thicker cookies needed the full 12 minutes to bake, but if yours are thinner I would check them after 10 minutes. I didn’t make any other changes to this recipe, although I was supposed to chop up the butterscotch chips and I didn’t, but that didn’t seem to make any difference. The simplicity of a shortbread cookie really shines here, with the buttery, crumbly shortbread paired with the distinct flavors of butterscotch and toffee.

Butterscotch Toffee Shortbread 
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup toffee bits

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, and salt; set aside. In a large mixer bowl beat the butter and powdered sugar on medium until creamy. Add the vanilla and stir to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. When almost incorporated, add the butterscotch chips and the toffee bits and stir on low until the mixture comes together.

Divide the dough into tow halves and shape each half into a log, about 3 inches wide. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least an hour.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats. 

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap. Slice the cookies into 1/3” thick slices and place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Mom on Time Out

Hazelnut Cookies

It’s interesting what is popular, and thus sold out, each week at the grocery store. I understand that yeast is hard to find, but I don’t typically have time to bake with yeast, so that’s no different for me. The stores seem to be out of flour, which I could certainly use, but I knew I was low on flour, so I had picked several recipes that don’t require too much flour. I suppose I could always use bread flour, that might be interesting.

This recipe doesn’t make a lot of cookies, about 2 dozen, and thus uses 1-1/2 cups of flour. Some of the flour is replaced with ground hazelnuts or hazelnut flour, which helps. I have almond flour but not hazelnut flour. We had blanched hazelnuts at home, which was helpful. I can blanch most nuts, but don’t even try it with hazelnuts, it’s too hard. I roasted mine in the oven, which made them nice and buttery. Be careful that the hazelnuts don’t burn. After roasting the hazelnuts, I was able to pick away the last bits of skin, too.

This is a shortbread cookie, with hazelnuts. They are so simple, just five ingredients. I didn’t make any substitutions, but I did need to add a couple of tablespoons of water to help the dough come together. You shape the cookies and then flatten them with a fork, as you would a peanut butter cookie. They bake a longer time, about 16-18 minutes, but that is not uncommon with shortbread. When I was shaping these cookies, they smelled so good, and even smelled like they contain honey. While they have no honey, they have a wonderful, nutty hazelnut flavor. It’s such a simple recipe, but they are fantastic.

Hazelnut Cookies

1/2 cup blanched hazelnuts

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Toast the hazelnut in the oven or microwave, until fragrant. Cool completely. Once cool, grind the hazelnuts in a food processor. Do not grind them into a paste.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium until light. Add the flour, ground hazelnuts, and salt and mix on low until a dough forms. If needed, a 1-3 tablespoons of water to help form the dough.

Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Press the balls with the tines of a folk to flatten.

Bake 16-18 minutes, until golden. Allow cookies to cool completely on a wire rack.

Recipe from Martha Stewart