Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…

I wish it snows here. I wish I can experience 4 seasons here. In fact, I have never seen snow in my life. So you peeps out there who wakes up with snow in your backyard… Be grateful. Though I can brag that I can get a nice tan any time of the year  I am happy to say that my icebox cookies received pretty rave reviews from mom’s friend. She commissioned me to make another bottle for her. With Christmas just round the corner, I decided to make more cookies for my relatives as gifts. Although we don’t celebrate christmas, no one will resist homemade cookies ya?

The pecan shortbread cookies were delicious. I added a heaped 1/2 cup worth of ground pecan so they really shine through in the shortbread. Word of caution, the dough is really soft and spread quite abit in the oven, so do chill the dough thoroughly. I blame it on the stifling hot and humid weather here in Singapore I omitted the cloves and thought they taste just fine without them. The honey refrigerator cookie recipe is from Gourmet, one of the 68 cookie recipes feature this christmas. This is the first time I am working with shortening and find it a little strange. Firstly, it has no smell. Though the texture is similar to that of margarine and butter. The (white) color of the shortening is a little disconcerting to me as well. Nevertheless, the recipe turned out pretty good too. I may replace the shortening with butter next time to see if it works as well. The nut I used was chopped almonds. Which brings me to the matter that I am in love with my new food processor. It is such a dream to use. Definitely beats chopping those nuts up by hand. I won’t be adding the recipe for the honey cookies, but you can find it here.

Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbread

(Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s  ‘Baking From My Home To Yours’)

1½ cups plain flour

½ cup or cornflour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter,room temperature

2/3 cup light brown sugar

½ heaped cup finely ground pecans

1. Sift together the flour, rice flour, salt and cloves.

2. Beat the butter and sugr using a hand-held mixer or freestanding mixer on medium speed for around 3 minutes or  until very smooth. Reduce the speed to low and add dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the pecans and give the mixer a couple of turns, just to mix the nuts through.

3. In between two large pieces of non-stick baking paper, roll the dough out to an approximately 24 x 28cm rectangle that’s 1.5cm thick. Place the dough in the fridge for at least 3 hours or up to 2 days.

4. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Using a ruler and a sharp knife, cut the dough into 4cm squares. Transfer the squares to the prepared baking trays and prick each square twice with the tines of a fork. Sprinkle some raw sugar over each dough square. Place these two trays in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Position the oven racks to divide the oven into thirds.

5. Bake the biscuits for 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point.

Tis The Season To Be Jolly…. (Not)

Amidst the mass retrenchmentsand very gloomy market sentiments, this is probably one of the most sombre christmas season ever. Even for me, though I don’t really celebrate the holiday other than work/go party/sleep. Still I appreciate the upcoming holiday. My utilisation rate for the past few months have been unbelieveably low, meaning that I have been practically doing nothing but surfing the net 8 hours a day in office. It wasn’t really my choice as there were pitifully little jobs during off peak season. My boss asked me outright the other day what I have been doing in the office. Caught by surprised, I decided to tell her the truth. She wasn’t quite happy and told me the pple up there are looking at the matter. After that conversation, my colleague whispered to me that there is a second round of retrenchment going on. I am not very sure how to react to this news. Of course, my mind immediate comes up with questions. Is it my turn to go this time? Am I amongst the poorest performers in the firm? Perhaps. This doesn’t exactly help my already depressed state.

Althought I am not unduly worried about losing my job, I know I still need to find another job fast due to family commitments if need be. Sigh. Another update, I solved my toothache through surgery. I hope it heals fast. I don’t think I can afford another expensive operation at this point in time. I tried to think hard of something to cheer about. Can’t come up with any. I guess I can only turn to baking to put my mind off these depressing matters at this point in time. When I saw the whopping 68 favourite cookies recipes posted in Gourmet (Each recipe to represent a year of the magazine’s publication), I was overjoyed and enthusiastically bookmarked quite a few. There are alot of old favourites, and some which I have never seen before. The one the left the deepest impression is Cranberry Pistatchio Icebox Cookies. I love the photo of it in the magazine. How pretty!! I have never done a slice and bake cookie before so I had quite a bit of fun shaping the dough (yep I am into cheap thrills ) If you peeps out there live in humid and hot climates like me, do work quickly and throw the dough into the fridge every now and then to ensure it is cold. It is much easier is shape firm dough. I added slightly less butter and sugar than indicated in the recipe. Mostly because I did not want to cut open another package of butter, and the cranberries are already sweetened. This must be one of my favourite cookies ever. They are reminiscent of those danish cookies (in those blue round tins) I used to eat when I was young, except these are way better! For those who celebrate christmas, have a good one… If you can.

Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookies

 (Adapted from Gourmet)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ tsp salt

1 ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened

½ cup

1 cup shelled pistachios

2/3  cup dried cranberries

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup decorative sugar (preferably coarse)

 

Make dough:

1. Stir together flour, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.

 

2. Beat together butter, granulated sugar, and zest in a large bowl with an electric mixer  at m edium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing until dough just comes together in clumps, then mix in pistachios and cranberries. Gather and press dough together, then divide into 2 equal pieces. Using a sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper as an aid, form each piece of dough into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Square off long sides of each log to form a bar, then chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until very firm, at least 2 hours.

 

Slice and bake cookies:

 

3. Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

 

4. Brush egg over all 4 long sides of bars (but not ends). Sprinkle decorative sugar on a separate sheet of parchment or wax paper and press bars into sugar, coating well.

 

5. Cut each bar crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices, rotating bar after cutting each slice to help keep square shape. (If dough gets too soft to slice, freeze bars briefly until firm.) Arrange cookies about 1/2 inch apart on lined baking sheets.

 

6. Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are pale golden, 15 to 18 minutes total. Transfer cookies from parchment to racks using a slotted spatula and cool completely.

 

(Dough bars can be chilled up to 3 days or frozen, wrapped in plastic wrap and then foil, 1 month (thaw frozen dough in refrigerator just until dough can be sliced). Cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature 5 days.)