December 15, 2010

  • I boxed four dozen cookies before 7 AM.


    Parisian street art by Monsieur Qui

    It must be Christmas. It's strange, though, despite the snow and the smell of baking, I'm not at all in the spirit of the thing. Maybe it will come. 

    It looks like my father will continue his Selective Holiday Embargo. (He's declined to attend half our Christmases since mom died.) The chance he'll participate this year are slim. My sister and brother-in-law are offering to host a lunch on Boxing Day, but they don't seem terribly excited about it. My other sister is hemming and hawing and suggesting we celebrate in January and I am in my apartment making cookies by rote. I had to lay out the whole deposit for our new apartment so I'm not attacking the season with my usual enthusiasm either. It's hard to be broke at the holidays.

    But, as with anything attached to linear time, Christmas will come whether I'm ready for it or not. The only thing to do is keep mixing butter and sugar, hoping mind follows body.

    I wish I was in Paris.
    g.

     

    Old South Shortbread
    (aka: Mom's Favourites)

    preheat oven to 375° F

    BLEND
    1 c butter (room temp, unsalted)
    4 tbsp castor/fruit sugar*
    2 tsp vanilla extract (the good stuff - no fakes) 

    ADD: 
    (with rubber spatula or wooden spoon - no electric mixers)
    2 c flour
    2 c crushed walnuts

    HAVE READY:
    About 2 c icing/confectioner's sugar in a bowl 

    • Once it's mostly mixed with your spoon, pat together with your hands. As with most shortbreads, it's good not to overhandle. 
    • Roll dough into balls in your hands (about 1.5 - 2") and, when you put them down on the cookie sheet, don't flatten them completely. The cookies should be small and quite thick.
    • BAKE 15 to 20 MINS - they can have a touch of light brown around the edges
    • When they come out of the oven - AS SOON as they come out of the oven - roll them in the icing sugar so they are well coated. This is definitely going to burn the tips of your fingers but, if you don't do it while they're really hot, they won't be nearly as good.
    • Let cool completely, then pack into containers with a sheet of waxed paper b/t each layer. 

    *If you don't have this, regular white sugar is absolutely okay. The thing about castor or fruit sugar is that it is super-duper fine and adds an extra delicacy to the texture of shortbreads. But shit is not going to fall apart without it. Let's not get crazy, here.


Comments (2)

  • i think every now and again we all need a break from the usual christmas madness. maybe this is such a year for you. it's definitely going to be one here.

  • I'm not entirely Christmas-spirit-y, either. I'm looking forward to the break from school, but not so much the capital-H Holiday. Maybe making some cookies will help. Or Paris. Yeah, Paris would definitely help.

    h.

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