I don’t like Halloween. There, I said it. I was ambivalent toward it as a kid and I straight-up don’t like it now.
There is a very slight chance I will be in a costume this weekend, but this will depend entirely on the state of the World Series (go Sox!), how social I am feeling, and my willingness to trade my pajamas for a costume. But I’m a childless, baseball-loving introvert who doesn’t drink and loves pajamas, so you do the math.
One Halloween-ish thing that I do love? Candy corn. For proof, see here and here. Contoversial opinion, I know, but give me allllllll the overly-sweet, chewy, “made with real honey” candy corn there is! Also, mallow pumpkins. Please.
I know not everyone feels the way I do, but I think we can all get behind easy, festive, made-from-scratch treats. Exhibit A: Candy Corn Shortbread! How cute are these cookies, y’all?!
This recipe is made from very straightforward six-ingredient dough—literally just a vanilla shortbread with a little honey to reflect its “made with real honey” candy corn inspiration. After mixing (which takes all of five minutes) it’s divided into three sections, like so.
The smallest is set aside, while the medium piece is dyed yellow and the largest is dyed orange. I like to use gel food coloring here, but did have success testing with liquid.
After the dough colors are to your liking, it’s time to assemble it all so that it can be sliced later. This process is really very simple: just shape the yellow portion into a rectangle…
stack the orange on there…
and top it with the white dough. Use your hands to press it into a triangle shape before chilling for a few hours.
Then it’s just slicing and baking.
Oh, and fawning over how adorable these cookies are. That’s a big part of this process. Don’t forget to text pictures of them to everyone you know 🙂
I love how these cookies are imperfect, but are absolutely still recognizable. I’m sure you have better motor skills than I do–maybe you could mold yours to look taller and narrower like the real deal. I like to think mine look authentic because they look a little busted, just like the candy corn I bought last week. Let’s not discuss how long it took to dig through the bag and find all these whole pieces. Anyway…
Candy Corn Shortbread are as delicious as they are festive! When they are fresh, they have crisp edges and slightly chewy centers. They’ll soften a bit over time, but they’ll remain sweet, buttery, and totally delectable.
I think these could turn even the most Halloween-averse among us. Who knows–maybe I’ll wear a costume after all.
Candy Corn Shortbread
makes about 5 dozen
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons mild honey
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
red, yellow, and/or orange food coloring (preferably gel)*
In a medium mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in honey and vanilla, followed by flour and salt.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a circle. Slice in half. Set one half aside. Slice remaining half into one 2/3 portion and one 1/3 portion (see post for a photo).
Set the smallest piece aside; this is for the white tip of the candy corn. Knead yellow food coloring into the medium-sized piece of dough (I used about 1/8 teaspoon yellow gel). Knead orange gel into the largest piece (I used about 1/4 teaspoon orange gel).
Assemble the dough. Line a small baking sheet or cutting board with parchment. Shape yellow dough into a 10x3x1/2-inch rectangle. Place onto the parchment.
Top it with the orange dough I find this easiest to do by dividing the orange dough in half and arranging the two pieces in a straight line over the top of the yellow layer. Use your hands to start shaping the dough so it’s wider at the bottom and narrower at the top, with a flat top instead of a peak.
Top with the white dough. I find this easiest to do by slicing the white dough into four long, thin pieces. Arrange them end-to-end in a straight line on top of the orange layer and then use your hands to mold them together into one long piece. Use your hands to shape the dough so that it’s wide at the bottom and narrow at the peak. The log of dough may lengthen as much as two inches during this process. Cover very loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or up to three days.
Preheat oven to 300F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Set aside.
Remove chilled dough from the refrigerator. Slice into 1/4-inch slices, placing them at least 2-inches apart on prepared pans. If dough gets too warm, freeze full pans for 5 minutes before baking. Chill dough between batches.
Bake cookies for 8 minutes. Rotate pans top-to-bottom and front-to-back. Bake an additional 7-8 minutes, until no longer wet looking. Shortbread should not turn golden. Let cool on the pans for 7 minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely. Repeat slicing and baking processes with remaining dough. Let pans return to room temperature between batches.
Candy Corn Shortbread will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for at least a week. They will soften slightly over time.
Note:
I used Americolor Soft Gel Paste Food Color in Egg Yellow and Orange.
It’s never fun to come home from 
I have never had many feelings about Neapolitan ice cream—that classic all-in-one combination of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry—except that I’d probably prefer a scoop of vanilla with sprinkles instead.
Neapolitan Shortbread, though, are a different story. I saw a few recipes for them while scrolling through 
I clicked on a link and saw, to my utter (and definitely over-the-top) horror, that the layers were all made with one dough, the chocolate portion being mixed with melted chocolate and the pink part being just vanilla with food coloring! I clicked through more links and found a lot more of the same. Some had mixed their pink portion with strawberry jam, but that was even more problematic—it meant that all three portions would have different textures and bake differently. 
And so, I set out to fix this problem. Yes, I know that this “problem” is one I created with my own pickiness, but I don’t care because I believe in cookies that bake evenly and deliver flavors as advertised, damn it! I will not apologize for being a cookie snob. #justiceforstrawberry
I set to work, and it took me five test-batches, but y’all, these Neapolitan Shortbread are fantastic. They’ve got bold colors and big flavors and they bake evenly and they are shockingly easy to make.
Each layer is made from its own quick, simple dough, all three of which can be made in the same bowl in under twenty minutes. Here’s the rundown:
All the doughs are all pressed together in a wax paper-lined loaf pan and chilled until hard. Then the edges are trimmed off, the dough is cut into two long pieces, and each one is sliced into cookies. I ❤ ❤ ❤ a slice & bake recipe! 
Neapolitan Shortbread bake at a low temperature for 17-18 minutes. The cookies will be a little soft coming out of the oven, but should set up quickly. They’ll be crisp at the edges, slightly chewy in the centers, and oh, so buttery. 
These cookies are as delicious as they are beautiful, with plenty of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavors in every bite! And that’s to say nothing of the bright, bold colors—I just love that berry pink!
Oh, and I was right. They do make adorable ice cream sandwiches 🙂 
I don’t want to write about baking today—I want to write about how much I love the Olympics. I’ve watched the coverage every night and had it on in the background while I’ve baked during the day. This isn’t a recent habit—I grew up in a family that gathered to watch the games (summer or winter) every night they were on, and I even once had a wall of my teenage bedroom dedicated to the decorated short track speedskater Apolo Ohno.
Anyway, this isn’t an Olympics blog. It’s a baking blog. So, let’s talk about baked goods, specifically Almond Joy Shortbread Bars.
If you’re going to try to improve on the practically perfect combination of chocolate, almonds, and sweet coconut filling, layering it all onto a buttery chocolate shortbread crust is a pretty good way to start.
All the layers in these bars make them look like they take hours to prepare, but in reality, they take about 90 minutes from start to finish and are nearly no-bake. That easy chocolate shortbread crust is the only layer that has to spend time in the oven.
It’s topped with a thick layer of coconut filling and dotted with whole roasted almonds…
But back to the bars. Slice ‘em up and admire your handiwork. #thoselayerstho
The flavor is everything you love about sweet, chewy, crunchy Almond Joys, but better because they’re homemade. Oh, and because they have a crispy layer of chocolate shortbread offsetting all their sweetness. After sinking your teeth into one of these, you’ll never be able to go back to the mass-produced candy bar.
As with everything else in life, patience is a huge part of being a food blogger. For instance, I first made a version of these cookies for an order last April and knew immediately that I wanted to put them on the blog…but who eats shortbread in April?
I’m sure someone does, but most everybody I know reserves it for Christmas, so I waited. And then December came and went, and nary a shortbread made an appearance on this blog. I suppose I could have held out for the end of the year, but instead I’m making shortbread for Valentine’s Day and you should too.
I mean, all 
This version is made with brown butter. It’s one of my very favorite ingredients (see 
Brown butter is good in basically everything, but it really shines in these simple six-ingredient cookies. See those dark specks? Those are browned milk solids—tiny bits of flavor alllllll over the place, y’all!
And then, as if things could possibly get better, the baked shortbread are dipped in melted dark chocolate.
Tender, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth brown butter shortbread dipped. in. chocolate.
Oh my word.
You could certainly leave the chocolate half plain, but I am not the sort of baker who leaves things plain. I used my fanciest chocolate sprinkles here (they’re called 
There’s something luxurious about the name of this recipe, and they certainly look fancy, but I assure you that these Chocolate-Dipped Brown Butter Shortbread are as easy as they are delicious. I made them five times this week (and in multiple shapes!), so I know.
Another thing I know? If someone presented me with a batch of these, I’d definitely feel loved.
e2 bakes brooklyn 