Do you like crumbly cookies? Or do you prefer the soft melt-in-your-mouth kind? I love both but you know what? There's a certain cookie/biscuit I like better. I really don't know why it's called shortbread when it's not bread at all. Whatever it is, I love how it dissipates slowly in my mouth, at the contact of my tongue. Delightful I say! I have been searching for a good shortbread recipe and I think I might have found it. It's also interesting because it calls for yellow cornmeal:
I got this recipe from the Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies edition. I want to make this for Chinese New Year. So people, if you want to come visit my house, do expect to see lots of these shortbread ya :)
I'm going to plan my list for CNY soon. Any ideas or recipes you want to recommend? Email or leave a comment ya? I'm also looking for a kick ass pineapple tart recipe - the open faced kind, not the 'pillow' one. Thanks guys!
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Citrus Cornmeal Shortbread
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 tsp orange zest
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 plus 2 tbsp yellow cornmeal
1 tsp coarse salt
1. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until creamy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla and zest. Mix until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour, 2 tbsp cornmeal, and salt; mix until well combined, about 3 mintues. Halve dough; shape each into a log about 1 and 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Farenheit (150 degree celcius). Place remaining 1/4 cup cornmeal on a sheet of parchment paper. Roll in cornmeal to coat. Cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds, and space them 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake until pale golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on sheet on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.
Taken from Martha Stewart's Holiday Cookie Edition 2005.
12 comments:
hey, not fair! where to get that martha stewart mag??!!
Looks Yummy! I'm sure they taste good too :)
Please advise where to get the orange zest and cormeal?
Mmmmh, that looks interesting! I love their beautiful yellow colour...
Again, they look delicious! Where can cornmeal be found? Wow i notice u bake rather frequently.. Amazing, how do u managed to finish up everything? :)
lily: haha it was sent to me during the last Blogging by Mail. I'm not sure if it can be found in S'pore though.
susan: yes indeed! you can't stop at one... hmmm orange zest is obtained by grating your the outside of your orange. Yes, the 'skin'. Cornmeal can be found in most baking stores or supermarts.
Rosa: you should taste them... even better :)
Gabrielle: I bought that yellow cornmeal from Phoon Huat. Haha, yes I bake alot but hey, I don't consume everything - that's impossible. I usually give my stuff away or let my family eat them. I also try a bit of everything :) or sometimes, alot. hehe.
how much is a cup of butter in grams? tks
Thanks for your recipe, I tried the nutella cupcake recipe, it's fabulous. Can I linked your blog to mine, if you don't mind?
a cup of butter is approximately 227g. some blocks weigh that much so you just use the entire block. I know Anchor New Zealand Butter has a 227g block.
Citrus & cornmeal? What a delightful combination! I love them both :-)
Looks interesting, especially the melt-in-your-mouth comment. Eager to give this a try.
One question though, cornmeal is the same as polenta right? I have a packet of polenta but it is grainy (coarse grains) whereas yours looks powdery. :-I
amber: yes, it's lovely. you can actually feel the citrusy taste as you bite into it! :)
mycoffee: do try it. if you're a fan of shortbread, you're bound to love it. cornmeal is a bit different from polenta. i think cornmeal is more fine. I suggest you get cornmeal, because this is a shortbread after all. not sure if it'll work with polenta?
hey there :D
any ideas on where i can get yellow polenta?
i've seen lots of the cornmeal around (the fine powdery kind), but im looking for the coarse kind which i understand from the comments is called polenta.
hope you can help!
thanks loads!
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