Cornmeal Shortbread-TWD

I know, I know, we have been failing badly here at Bake With Us in the posting department. We could blame a lot of things: end of the semester, wedding planning, illness, work, etc. It just wasn’t a priority in the grand scheme of things. But things are looking up and so here we are back TWD’ing.

Let me just say that I loved this shortbread. It was delicious. I halved the recipe and used a ceramic mold that I had been gifted by a dear friend one Christmas. It was a short-cut, I admit, but inspired nevertheless. The mold worked out really well, so pretty!

cornmeal shortbread & my easter present to myself

Head on over to Valerie’s beautiful blog for the recipe or check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bloggers to see what they did with these treats. And of course thanks to Dorie for another great sweet.

Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies TWD

I grew up with shortbread, Irish people are all over it and my family was no exception. My nana made great shortbread and my mom makes tasty shortbread cookies. There was never chocolate or espresso in our shortbread and now I am thinking perhaps we were missing out. I loved these cookies. I baked them up tonight and promptly ate four. Needless to say I am taking them to work tomorrow and I am vowing not to eat any more. Poor S. likely won’t get a taste test, poor guy.

Thanks to Donna of Life’s too short not to eat dessert first for choosing this recipe. Check out the Link page on TWD to find out what other bakers got up to.

Caroline

Terry’s Chocolate Orange Cookies

As the Countdown to Christmas continues, I thought I would share my current favorite Christmas cookie. My brother-in-law sent this recipe to my older sister with the following message: “Please pass this recipe on to your sisters.” Sarah is not much of a baker and thus, he was wise pass it on to other Stewart women. I made these last week and they are now in Kingston (with me) waiting for Brendan to come and eat them.

Terry’ s Chocolate Orange Cookies

Makes 20 cookies.

1 cup butter, softened
½ cup fine sugar
2 cups flour
½ tsp. grated orange peel
1 Terry’s Chocolate Orange, separated into segments, cut in half

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy.  Gradually add flour, beating until well blended after each addition. Roll dough into 20 balls, approx. 3.5 cm in diameter.  Flatten with palm of hand.  Top each with 1 piece of chocolate, wrap dough around chocolate to completely enclose the chocolate.  Place 5 cm apart on ungreased baking sheets.  Flatten slightly.

Bake 20 minutes.  Remove from oven; immediately place 1 of the remaining chocolate pieces on each cookie.  Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

I have also made these with Caramilk bars and mini Reese Peanut Butter Cups. My favorite is the Chocolate Orange, a classic really.

Lemon Cream Cheese Tarts

I just spent a week in beautiful Smithers, British Columbia (ok technically it was Telkwa but close enough). One of my close friends, Lisa, got married to a great guy and I was fortunate enough to spend a week up there. Lisa has an amazing family and I was honoured to be a recipient of their hospitality. In an effort to contribute to the wedding festivities I offered help in whatever manner would be most useful. I was put to work in the kitchen, which as you can imagine, was no inconvenience for me. I got to try new recipes and I was happy to be a part of wedding central.

Lemony Cream Cheese Goodness

Lisa’s girl’s night was a fun night and on the menu were these gems. Lisa’s mom made the shortbread tart shells so I am only partially responsible for this posting. She is an great baker and chef and I was lucky to complete the recipe.  These tarts are amazing bundles of cream cheese lemony goodness and oh yeah, there is condensed milk in them. Can you imagine anything better? This is a Best of Bridge recipe and the recipe is available on their website. I made the cheese version but their plain lemon filling looks great too.

The flowers and raspberries were courtesy of Lisa’s mom garden, a magical place to be sure.  I will definately be sharing these with my family and won’t be surprised if they become a favorite of ours.