Shortbread: Plain and Ganache Topped
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup icing sugar
3/4 cup butter
I think pretty much everybody likes shortbread. No shocker, I guess, considering it consists of sugar and butter suspended in flour.
Good shortbread is marked by its light, crumbly texture. Crumbliness (and flakiness, in the case of pie and tart crusts) happens when little clumps of better melt into the flour and sugar around them and create little pockets of air. Or at least that's how I think about it. This is why it's important not to mix the butter too thoroughly with the dry ingredients when making dough for these purposes - it will end up being too dense / rubbery. Your first offensive tactic against this is to start with butter that's still slightly cool or even cold. If it's soft and mushy or even room temperature, it'll be hard not to over-mix it.
Cut the butter into chunks and put it in the bowl with the dry ingredients. I use salted butter for pretty much everything, including this, because, well, I like salt.
Use your hands to mix it - squish it all together and rub the mixture between your palms and fingers. It's fun. And then gets kind of tiresome. You want to achieve a bread crumb-like texture. You will think there isn't enough butter or something and that what you've created is too crumbly to form cookies with - it's not.
When there are no big pieces of butter left, pick up a small crumbly handful and work it into a little ball. As your hands heat the dough you'll be able to form a small patty that doesn't just fall apart. Once you achieve this, don't over work it - just make your patty and get out. Place them on the tray and use your fingers to tidy up the edges and make them prettier. Press with a fork to make a little pattern. I have mine on parchment paper here because my tray isn't in great shape. Either way, you don't need to grease the cookie sheet because the cookies are so buttery.
Bake at 325-ish degrees until the edges are just brown, usually about fifteen mins. Cool on a cooling rack.
I decided to try putting a ganache on top of some of these (not all because, honestly, the beauty is really in their simplicity - but, um, yum).
Ganache is made by melting together 35% cream and 70% dark chocolate (semi-sweet will work too) at a ratio of 100ml to 100gr. Make as much as you like depending on how many cookies you want to be chocolate covered and how much chocolate you want to have left over for eating with a spoon.
The process is easy but you need to pay attention.
Heat up the cream on the stove as gently as possible. Ideally, you'll use a double boiler. Two pots close in size stacked on top of each other will work well too. The set up I used here was a bit silly but I don't have a double boiler or the right sized pots so I rigged something acceptable up with a strainer. In any case, you put a bit of water in the lower pot and let it heat so it's just barely simmering. Just producing bubbles, really. A medium-low temperature setting should be enough. Put your pot with your cream over top and then stand there staring at it as it warms up. (Once you know what you're doing you can chop the chocolate while this is happening but at first your only job is to make sure the cream doesn't get too hot - get the chocolate ready before you turn on the burner)
A more professional instructor who cared more about your safety would suggest you heat the cream to a certain temperature which you'll establish you're at by checking it with a candy thermometer. I'm going to tell you to stick your finger in it every minute or so and when you think it's warm enough to melt chocolate you're ready to rock. If it's hot enough to hurt you even a little bit - it's too hot!! Get that shit off the burner asap. If it actually boils (in which case I know you won't go sticking your finger in it) it's ruined and you'll need to start over. (This has to do with the fats separating or something and it will simply refuse to properly mix with the chocolate - I've ruined cakes)
OK, so once it's just hot enough to melt small bits of chocolate you start adding them one small handful at a time. Stir until it's melted and then add more.
And so on.
Allow the chocolate to cool down a bit and then dollop it on top of the cookies. I highly recommend eating some warm right then and there. Put the others in the fridge to encourage the chocolate to stiffen. You can bring them back up to room temperature before eating and the chocolate won't go all melty on you.
And that's that.
By the way - if you do find someone who doesn't like shortbread, please have them contact me so we can have a chat about life, the difference between right and wrong etc.
Love,
Rebecca
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup icing sugar
3/4 cup butter
I think pretty much everybody likes shortbread. No shocker, I guess, considering it consists of sugar and butter suspended in flour.
Good shortbread is marked by its light, crumbly texture. Crumbliness (and flakiness, in the case of pie and tart crusts) happens when little clumps of better melt into the flour and sugar around them and create little pockets of air. Or at least that's how I think about it. This is why it's important not to mix the butter too thoroughly with the dry ingredients when making dough for these purposes - it will end up being too dense / rubbery. Your first offensive tactic against this is to start with butter that's still slightly cool or even cold. If it's soft and mushy or even room temperature, it'll be hard not to over-mix it.
Cut the butter into chunks and put it in the bowl with the dry ingredients. I use salted butter for pretty much everything, including this, because, well, I like salt.
Use your hands to mix it - squish it all together and rub the mixture between your palms and fingers. It's fun. And then gets kind of tiresome. You want to achieve a bread crumb-like texture. You will think there isn't enough butter or something and that what you've created is too crumbly to form cookies with - it's not.
When there are no big pieces of butter left, pick up a small crumbly handful and work it into a little ball. As your hands heat the dough you'll be able to form a small patty that doesn't just fall apart. Once you achieve this, don't over work it - just make your patty and get out. Place them on the tray and use your fingers to tidy up the edges and make them prettier. Press with a fork to make a little pattern. I have mine on parchment paper here because my tray isn't in great shape. Either way, you don't need to grease the cookie sheet because the cookies are so buttery.
Bake at 325-ish degrees until the edges are just brown, usually about fifteen mins. Cool on a cooling rack.
I decided to try putting a ganache on top of some of these (not all because, honestly, the beauty is really in their simplicity - but, um, yum).
Ganache is made by melting together 35% cream and 70% dark chocolate (semi-sweet will work too) at a ratio of 100ml to 100gr. Make as much as you like depending on how many cookies you want to be chocolate covered and how much chocolate you want to have left over for eating with a spoon.
The process is easy but you need to pay attention.
Heat up the cream on the stove as gently as possible. Ideally, you'll use a double boiler. Two pots close in size stacked on top of each other will work well too. The set up I used here was a bit silly but I don't have a double boiler or the right sized pots so I rigged something acceptable up with a strainer. In any case, you put a bit of water in the lower pot and let it heat so it's just barely simmering. Just producing bubbles, really. A medium-low temperature setting should be enough. Put your pot with your cream over top and then stand there staring at it as it warms up. (Once you know what you're doing you can chop the chocolate while this is happening but at first your only job is to make sure the cream doesn't get too hot - get the chocolate ready before you turn on the burner)
A more professional instructor who cared more about your safety would suggest you heat the cream to a certain temperature which you'll establish you're at by checking it with a candy thermometer. I'm going to tell you to stick your finger in it every minute or so and when you think it's warm enough to melt chocolate you're ready to rock. If it's hot enough to hurt you even a little bit - it's too hot!! Get that shit off the burner asap. If it actually boils (in which case I know you won't go sticking your finger in it) it's ruined and you'll need to start over. (This has to do with the fats separating or something and it will simply refuse to properly mix with the chocolate - I've ruined cakes)
OK, so once it's just hot enough to melt small bits of chocolate you start adding them one small handful at a time. Stir until it's melted and then add more.
And so on.
And that's that.
By the way - if you do find someone who doesn't like shortbread, please have them contact me so we can have a chat about life, the difference between right and wrong etc.
Love,
Rebecca
posted by Rebecca at
9:15 PM
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