Tag: shortbread

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rhubarb sundae with blueberries and shortbread crumble

I had a bunch of fresh blueberries from my mom’s garden, a Sunset magazine in my mailbox, a dinner party to go to and this sundae was born.

This sundae is wonderful—better than I expected. There just is something really magical about cold ice cream with a warm sauce. It’s like a deconstructed blueberry-rhubarb pie, and because each of the components are made separately, you can easily adapt the recipe to the ingredients and amount of time you have on hand. You could swap the blueberries for another berry or even stone fruit—whatever is in season or on hand. I made the shortbread from scratch, but you could certainly make due with a store-bought shortbread or vanilla cookies. And while the rhubarb in the ice cream is really wonderful and I really recommend you give it a go, you could skip that all together if you’re especially short on time and just serve it with vanilla ice cream.

Rhubarb Sundae with Blueberries and Shortbread Crumble, adapted from Sunset Magazine

For the ice cream
4 cups vanilla bean ice cream
4 stalks rhubarb, sliced thinly
6 T brown sugar

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the rhubarb and brown sugar. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has a jam like consistency. Remove from the heat and puree. Put in the refrigerator to chill for about 20 minutes.

Once the rhubarb is chilled, stir into the vanilla ice cream and return to the freezer.

For the shortbread
1/2 cup butter, softened
5 T sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 T flour
1/8 t kosher salt
1/8 t cinnamon
1 T sugar

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix 1 T sugar and 1/8 t cinnamon in a bowl and set aside. Beat butter, 5 T sugar, vanilla and salt until light and fluffy. Add flour and mix on low until large clumps form.

Bring the dough together with your hands. Roll it out until about 1/4″ thick on a floured surface. Mine rolled out quite messy, but it doesn’t really matter since you break it into large pieces before serving anyway. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Put in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Bake 15 – 20 minutes, until golden. Cool and then break into large shards.

For the blueberries
2 cups blueberries
1/2 lemon, juiced

Just before serving, heat blueberries and lemon in small saucepan over medium-low heat. Meanwhile, scoop rhubarb ice cream into bowls. Just as the blueberries begin to juice, pour them over the ice cream. Add shortbread shards and enjoy!

-Emily

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lemon tart with shortbread crust

What does one do when one somehow (how?!?) forgets an entire tin of shortbread cookies on top of her refrigerator? Well, this girl turns those past-their-prime cookies into a delightful pie crust. And then fills that pie crust with a dreamy lemon cream.

Lemon Cream Tart with Shortbread Crust, lemon cream from the Tartine Bakery Cookbook and cookies from Lottie + Doof

For the crust
1 cup shortbread cookie crumbs

Forget about a tin of these cookies or purchase a decent shortbread cookie. In a food processor, process the cookies until they are sand-like and start to come together. At this point, you may need to add a little melted butter to bring the crumbs together. My cookies were already so buttery that I didn’t need to. Push the crust into a tart pan or pie dish using the back of a measuring cup. Refrigerate the crust.

For the lemon cream
1/2 cup plus 2 T lemon juice
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup butter, cut into 1 T pieces

In a metal or glass bowl set over simmering water, whisk together the lemon juice, eggs and sugar. Tip: Don’t let the eggs and sugar sit together without whisking because the sugar will “cook” the egg and make the whole mixture grainy. Continue whisking until the mixture has reach 180 degrees and is a thick custard. Take the bowl off the heat and let it cool to 140 degrees.

Once it has cooled slightly, blend in the butter 1 T at a time. The Tartine Bakery Cookbook recommends using an immersion blender for this step. Once you have added all the butter and the mixture is smooth, pour it into the tart shell. Refrigerate for a few hours to let it set up.

I served this with peaches one night and on its own the next. Both were wonderful.

-Emily

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Recipes

baking therapy: whole wheat shortbread

I very much enjoying making my food blog rounds, collecting new ideas, ooohhing and ahhhing at all the pretty photos and delicious dishes. There are just so many amazing cooks out there – it’s both intimidating and inspiring! These whole wheat shortbread cookies caught my eye on Lottie + Doof, a fabulous and adventurous mostly baking blog. They were just too adorable (and contained too much butter) not to make. I had high hopes to turn them into nectarine sorbet-shortbread ice cream sandwiches. The sandwiches never happened, but these cookies were wonderful.

Whole Wheat Shortbread, adapted from Lottie + Doof 
2 cups plus 2 T all purpose flour
1 cup plus 1 T whole wheat flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
16 oz butter, at cool room temperature (I used Strauss Unsalted Butter – it is amazingly creamy and has a great grassy flavor)
3/4 cup sugar
1 t salt
additional sugar for dusting

Heat an oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flours and cornstarch. In standing mixer, beat butter, sugar and salt together. Add the flour mixture and mix just to combine. Be careful not to overmix – you don’t want a tough cookie!

Line several baking sheets with parchment. Roll out the dough on a flour dusted workspace. I rolled mine out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut using cookie cutters into your desired shapes – I choose a round because it was the only cutter I knew its whereabouts. Transfer onto your parchment lined sheets using a thin spatula. The dough is very soft and your meticulously cut shapes can get a little wonky if you’re not careful with them. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, until just golden on the edges. Let them cool for a few moments and then dust with sugar. After dusting, let them cool completely on a wire rack and then enjoy!

These cookies are wonderful – so light and delicate and just sweet enough. They are good with sorbet, with coffee, and all by themselves. The recipe makes a lot of dough … I would recommend halving it or saving some of the dough in the freezer for the next time a shortbread craving strikes. If you decide to go the freezer route, let the dough come to cool room temperature before rolling it out and then bake as directed above.

And wow … we’ve had a lot of sweet treat posts in a row. Where’s Jordan to help set this course right?

-Emily