Nibby Buckweat Butter Cookies

This is my first time using cacao nibs. They have the texture of crushed coffee beans, and the aroma of dark-dark chocolate, but they taste smoother, like tiny crunches of unsweetened chocolate, but without the sugar and vanilla flavours that we typically associate with a chocolate bar.
These cookies come together quickly, and can be bake as needed since they are essentially a slice and bake cookie. The buckwheat flour lends a toasty flavour to the cookies that really accentuates the lightly browned crispy outer edges especially when these are right out of the oven. the buckwheat cookie base is flavoured simply with vanilla but the tiny bits of cacao nibs dispersed throughout them add bitter spots of dark cocoa favour making these a sophistacated cookie wth a familiar yet alluring blend of flavours. Buckwheat nibby cookies make an elegant nibble but still provide a satisfying cookie experience. They are the perfect kind of cookie to nibble on with an afternoon coffee or after dinner with a cappuccino.

Nibby Buckwheat Butter Cookies
makes approx 4 dozen cookies

• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cups buckwheat flour
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup cacao nibs
• 1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Whisk the all-purpose and buckwheat flours together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
   
2. In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar and salt for about 1 minute, until smooth and creamy but not fluffy. Mix in the nibs and vanilla. Add the flours and mix just until incorporated. Scrape the dough into a mass and, if necessary, knead it with your hands a few times, just until smooth.
3. Form the dough into a 12x2 inch log. Wrap and refrigerate for at lest 2 hours or preferably, overnight.
4. Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Use a sharp knife to cut the cold dough logs into 1/4-inch thick slices. Place the cookies at least 1-1/2-inches apart on the baking sheets.
6. Bake until the cookies are just beginning to colour at the edges, 12-14 minutes, rotating the baking sheet from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies in the pans on the racks. Let cool completely. the cookies are delicious fresh but even better the next day. They can be stored in an airtight container at least one month.

adapted from:
Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich

Cheddar Spritz Crackers

For the holidays I like to make star-shaped buttery vanilla spritz cookies topped with Hershey's kisses aka "Nipple Cookies" but my current obsession with savoury cookies (they go better with booze!) led me to this recipe for savoury cheddar spritz crackers.
This recipe also gives me further justification for the cookie press that has been sitting in my pantry and comes out only at the holidays.
These are a spicy cheesy cookie, made with cheddar and a healthy dose of Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce. Spritz or cookie press cookies are a bit of a pain to make because you need to get into a bit of a rhythm with the cookie press. Too much pressure results in squished cookie blobs and too little the cookies will burn and the shape won't be perfect. I tried experimenting with a different design rather than delicate star shapes, because these shortbread don't taste dainty and I think the waffle pattern I chose is more fitting to a boldly flavoured spicy cookie.

Cheddar Spritz Crackers
Dairy
Makes: about 8 dozen cookies

• 1 lb sharp cheddar or aged swiss finely shredded
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
• dash of hot red pepper sauce
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon paprika

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, cream cheese, butter, Worcestershire sauce, and hot red pepper sauce until smooth.
   
2. In a separate bowl, mix flour and seasoning together.Gradually add in to cheese mixture. Mix until dough forms a smooth ball.
   
3. Shape dough into small logs and place in cookie press. Using desired shape, press shapes onto cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet on cooling rack. Remove from from sheet and continue to cool on rack.

Adapted from: Wilton Cookie Master Plus: Appetizers, Crackers and More! recipe and instruction booklet.

Dried Cranberry Thyme Shortbread

I came across this recipe for a savoury shortbread in an old LCBO Food and Wine Magazine. The combination of fresh time, lemon zest and dried cranberries intrigued me because dried cranberries aren't often used in savoury baking recipes.

The shortbread are incredible easy to make, the buttery dough comes together quickly in the stand mixer, then gets rolled into logs and put in the fridge. Once firm, just slice and bake. The dough can even be frozen in logs to be baked off for impromptu hor's oeuvres.

These buttery, sweet and herbaceous shortbread are good served with cheeses, especially brie, added to a cheese plate, or just eaten as appetizer nibblers. They are also very festive.

Behold, Pack-man brie loves these shortbread:

Dried Cranberry Thyme Shortbread

Time: 1 hour

Makes about 45 shortbread

dairy

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
• 2 teaspoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, finely chopped
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ dried cranberries or cherries, coarsely chopped
• flour for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. With a mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, rind, juice, salt and thyme. Cream until light and fluffy.
3. Stir in the flour and cranberries. Stir until combined and then remove from bowl and place on lightly floured surface.
4. Gently form the dough into a 12-inch log. Roll up in plastic wrap and place in fridge, allow to chill for at least 30 minutes.
5. Slice the log into ¼-inch medallions and place on baking sheet.
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until edges become light golden.

From: LCBO Food and Drink Holiday 2007

In Lieu of Pie.....

So thanksgiving has come and gone and I didn’t get pie… but I got my pumpkin fix anyhow (and really, my mom is better at pie making anyways, hi mom!). Instead, This recipe from the Autumn 2009 LCBO Food and Drink intrigued me. As luck would have it I had all of the ingredients in my pantry to make this pumpkin butter shortbread torte. Think of it as a sexed up version of pumpkin pie. Tender shortbread flavoured with orange zest and Chinese five spice powder, gets sandwiched with a sweet and spicy pumpkin butter full of fresh ginger. The shortbread gets baked into disks and layered with the pumpkin butter then left to chill so that the cookies soften into a cake-like texture, and the orange and spice flavours meld together into something far tastier than the sum of its parts.

But lets talk about its parts anyways.

The cookie layers: The orange five spice shortbread, was a simple shortbread that came together easily. My only change to the recipe was to substitute milk for the cream. The dough tasted really good, with the bright orange zest being a good counterbalance to the warm spices and slight fennel aftertatse. The cookies had a good texture and I would love to make these on their own as individual cookies. The only issue is that the original recipe said the dough would make 7 layers for the torte and I only got 6 layers, which were quite thin. Not that I am complaining, 6 layers is a lot of cookie. I don’t own a 8 inch tart pan, mine is 9 -inches so I did not get pretty fluted edges for my layers because I had to trace around a circle to get my cookie layers even. I think that next time I make this, I might try making mini tortes using my 3-ich tart rings or even pumpkin butter sandwich cookies. The baking time was originally 12 minutes, I had to reduce to 10 minutes because the cookies were quite thin and my oven is crazy hot. Some of my layers got a bit browned on the edges. Of course, those layers ended up being placed on the bottom when I assembled the torte, but that is our secret.

The pumpkin butter:

Pumpkin butter tastes like a cross between pumpkin pie and a spicy jam. It is sweet and thick and spicy, liberally flavoured with fresh ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and orange juice.

The recipe called for 4 cups canned pumpkin. I suppose fresh would work, but canned is more convenient, and I find has less liquid in it and I decided that it might be better for the torte to have a firmer filling. The pumpkin and spices get cooked together for 40 minutes to intensify their flavour.

3 cups of pumpkin butter gets used for the torte, which means you will have extra. That’s ok because this stuff is also great on my cranberry scones or, you know, by the spoonful.

When it comes together, this torte is tall, sleek and modern and if you make this spread out over a couple of days, takes very little effort. I threw together the pumpkin butter and shortbread dough the night before, baked the cookies in the morning, assembled the torte before running off to class, and it was ready for that evening.

The layers softened up nicely, the torte easily sliced open to reveal sexy pin-striped insides. It has the nostalgic flavour of pumpkin pie, but the exotic hint of citrus and anise, made it much more mysterious and elegant than mere pie, the ingénue of pumpkin desserts.

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Pumpkin Butter Shortbread Torte

Makes about 5 cups pumpkin butter (3 cups get used for the torte the rest is great on scones)

Makes 6-7 shortbread discs (you could probably make smaller cookies out of these)

Serves 12

Dairy

Pumpkin butter:

• 1 (796 ml) tin pure pumpkin puree or 4 cups
• ¾ cup orange juice (about 2 oranges)
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Shortbread layer

• ½ cup butter, room temperature
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
• 1-1/2 tablespoons half and half cream or milk (I used 1% milk)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• icing sugar for dusting

1. For pumpkin butter: stir all ingredients together in a heavy bottom saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium low heat and simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool to room temperature before chilling completely. Makes about 5 cups of which 3 cups will be used for the torte.
2. For the shortbread layers: beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg, orange zest and cream. In a separate bowl, sift flour, 5 spice powder, baking powder, and salt and add to butter mixture, stirring until, combined. Shape dough into a log, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Cut dough into 6 equal pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 piece of dough to just over 1/8^th inch thick. Use the fluted edge of an 8-inch remove-able bottom tart pan to cut out a large disc, reserving scrap pieces of dough. Transfer the disc to a parchment lined baking tray (you can use the flat bottom portion of the tart pan to lift the disc. Repeat with remaining discs of dough , rolling a seventh disc with the scraps (for some reason I didn’t have enough left over for a seventh cookie layer I only got 6 really thin ones). Bake for 10-12 minutes (fitting up to 2 cookies per baking sheet) until just the edges brown. Let cool before assembling.
5. To assemble torte, lay one shortbread disc onto a plate. Spread about ½ cup pumpkin butter evenly over disc and top with another shortbread disc. Repeat until all layers are assembled. Chill for at least 6 hours or overnight before slicing, so that the layers will soften and slice evenly. To serve, dust top of torte with icing sugar.