Nutty Shortbread With Raspberry Jam

I've been fiddling in the kitchen trying to distract myself yet again. Twelve days ago I was in surgery. Ten days ago I was released from the post-critical care unit at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica with a prescription to go home, rest and take my meds. I'm a pretty good girl, but resting isn't really my thing. Also, as I'm not completely out of the woods, and the doctors are still trying to figure out my next steps, I definitely needed to focus my mind on something other than my health.

'Twas the night before Christmas and I thought shortbread was in order. Perhaps it was my mother's Scottish heritage kicking in, though I can't recall her ever making these dense, butter-rich cookies. She may even have served Walkers Shortbread in the trademark red plaid tin, but mostly she baked everything "with my own fair hands," as she liked to say, feeling embarrassed if she ever served anything that was store-bought.

I'd made a great shortbread recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Cheese Board Collective Works. It was for Hazelnut Shortbread, except that I used a mix of nuts, including hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds and pecans. I loved the crunchy, buttery taste and decided to make it again, thinking I might wrap a few cookies to give to one of my neighbors, recently widowed, who was facing her first Christmas without her husband.

Unfortunately, I must have measured the butter wrong or put in too many nuts, because, even after working the dough more than usual and letting it sit overnight in the fridge, it simply wouldn't hold together when I tried to roll it out. My first thought was that I should discard the crumbly dough and start again, but that went against my frugal upbringing (yes, the thrifty Scot in me!). I decided to gently mix in a tablespoon or so of melted butter, press the dough into the bottom of the cookie sheet, spread a thin layer of raspberry jam thinned with a little orange juice and spiked with orange zest, and sprinkle with the remaining shortbread crumbs and chopped nuts. After baking, cooling and cutting into little rectangles, I was pleasantly surprised by the result--crisp, buttery, nutty and just a tad jammy, but not sticky. Perfect with a cup of English Breakfast tea while staring out the French double doors at another perfect Southern California winter day!

Happy baking!

Nutty Shortbread With Raspberry Jam

Makes about 30 cookies

Ingredients

2/3 cup (about 11 tablespoons) unsalted butter at room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup coarsely chopped toasted hazelnuts or mixed nuts of your choice

1 to 2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter (optional)

1/2 cup raspberry jam

1 to 2 tablespoons orange or lemon juice

1 teaspoon orange or lemon zest

1/4 cup chopped toasted nuts 

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or spray with oil an 11-by-17-inch baking pan.

2. Cream butter and sugar in a mixer for about 4 minutes or by hand until light and fluffy.

3. Add 2 1/4 cups of flour on low speed or by hand until blended. I found this easier to do by hand. The recipe in The Cheese Board Collective Works suggests adding the remaining 1/4 cup flour a tablespoon at a time. By the time I added the first tablespoon, the dough was so crumbly, I didn't add any more.

4. Stir in the nuts until incorporated, taking care not to overwork the dough.

5. At this point, you have completed all the steps for The Cheese Board recipe. If your dough is holding together well, you could make shortbread by rolling it out on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 1/2 inch, cutting into 2 1/2-inch squares--or whatever shapes you wish--and transferring with a lightly floured spatula to the prepared pan, placing the cookies at least one inch apart, and then following the baking directions in Step 11 (below). If you want to make the raspberry version, read on.

6. If your dough is fairly crumbly, stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons additional melted butter, using a light touch.

7. Lightly press the dough into the bottom of the cookie sheet using a light touch and trying to maintain a thickness of 1/4 to 1/2 inch. Reserve about 1/2 cup of the dough.

8. Mix 1/2 cup raspberry jam with orange or lemon juice and zest, using enough juice to thin the raspberry jam to spreadable consistency.

9. Using a spatula or pastry or silicone brush, spread a thin layer of jam on top of the shortbread crust, making sure the jam reaches to the edges and is evenly spread.

10. Mix remaining shortbread dough with 1/4 cup nuts, sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle lightly over the top of the jam.

11. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 15 minutes. Rotate the pan for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until the shortbread cookies (if you stopped at Step 5) are a light golden brown, or (if you made the jam version) the crumbs are a lightly browned. Let cool completely on the baking sheets on wire racks. Stored in an airtight container, these cookies keep for a week or more and should be good candidates for shipping.

  Happy New Year, world! Wishing everyone the best ever 2014!

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

I can't think of a better antidote to holiday stress than baking. It's hard for worries to intrude when you're focused on measuring flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and trying to remember where you hid the vanilla. My angst-abatement project earlier this week was to turn out some goodies that might travel 3,000 miles and still be tasty when the recipient--my husband's brother Jez and his family in Atlanta--opened presents on Christmas Day.

As I've discovered, not all cookies are created equal, especially when it comes to long-distance shipping.  An example is one of my favorites, rugelach, a traditional rolled crescent-shaped cookie made of cream cheese dough wrapped around a filling of jam, nuts and chocolate. I usually turn out a batch of these delectable little pastries for Hanukkah, which this year is already a distant memory. Rugelach are never quite as flaky and fresh as the day they're made and definitely do not improve with age, so clearly they're not a candidate for the mail. Biscotti, on the other hand, are hard, dry cookies that, if wrapped well in an air-tight container, seem like they might survive a trip to the moon, that is if a hungry astronaut didn't dig into them first!

A foolproof biscotti recipe that has already become a holiday staple at my house is one I first heard about a year ago on a podcast I often listen to while cooking and baking. The recipe is a little unusual in that instead of butter, it calls for olive oil, though not a large amount. I believe the oil adds a subtle flavor note that blends well with the pistachios, cranberries and vanilla and almond extracts. I dipped or drizzled some of the cookies in melted white chocolate just to add a bit of holiday pizzazz, but other than this, the recipe sticks fairly close to the original. I suggest some other possible variations at the end, but I'm sure the options are limited only by your imagination. Happy stress-free baking!

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

1/4 cup mild extra virgin olive oil

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 large eggs

1 3/4 cups unsifted unbleached flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 1/2 cups unsalted shelled pistachios

Mixing in dried cranberries and pistachios

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick baking spray or cover the bottom with parchment paper (I did the latter, spraying the paper with a bit of oil).

2.  In a large bowl, beat the olive oil and sugar together. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and eggs, beating until the mixture is completely blended.

3. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, salt and baking powder with a hand whisk. 

4. On low speed (or by hand), gradually add the flour mixture to the egg mixture.*

5. Carefully fold in the cranberries and pistachios.

6. Divide the dough in half and form into two logs. (The recipe suggests these will be 12 inches long by 2 inches wide. However, mine were about 15 by 3!) Wetting your hands in cool water before shaping makes the process much easier, as the dough does tend to stick otherwise.

Cutting biscotti on a slight diagonal 

7. Bake for about 30 minutes, turning the cookie sheet halfway through the process to make sure the cookies are evenly browning. 

8. Remove from the oven, cool for at least 15 minutes on the cookie sheet. Then, using a sharp knife, cut the cookies at a slight angle into slices that are about 3/4-inch thick.

9. Spread out the cookies on the cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, flipping them midway through. Cookies should be slightly golden on the sides, but not overly brown. After removing from the oven, cool on a wire rack.

Biscotti cooling after second baking

*I did all the prep work for these cookies this by hand, but you could also use a hand or stand mixer. However, adding in the flour mixture should be done with care, making sure not to overwork the dough.

Optional: If dipping the cookies in white chocolate, melt about 6 to 8 ounces of white chocolate chips in a double boiler (or in a pan over another pan with a couple of inches of water in the bottom, as I did), stirring until melted. Add about a teaspoon of canola or other flavorless oil to thin out the chips a bit. Dip cookies into the melted mixture to get the half-dipped look, or drizzle liquid over the cookies in squiggly patterns. Place the cookies on a parchment-covered cookie tray or dish and refrigerate for about a half hour so that the white chocolate will harden.

Biscotto taking a white chocolate dip

More Options:

1. Instead of white chocolate, dip or drizzle in melted semi-sweet chocolate.

2. Substitute dried cherries and chopped, toasted hazelnuts for the cranberries and pistachios. Walnuts and mini chocolate chips would be another winning combination, I think.

3. Add other dried fruit, such as raisins, currants or chopped dried apricots, drop the almond flavoring and add a tablespoon of orange juice and a teaspoon of orange zest.