Tag Archives: Shortbread

Sweet Cherry Shortbread Bars

Why is it that I always want to make pie when I simply don’t have the time? I would love to take a week off of work just to make pie and drink cold brew, but I know for a fact that I would make exactly one pie and spend the rest of the week trying to get to the beach.

I’m looking forward to many adventures this summer, but for now, it’s mostly business as usual: lots of work, lots of baseball-watching, lots of late nights, pounds and pounds of seasonal fruit, and every intention of making pie. But again, there is no time for all the rolling and cutting and chilling that goes with pie. Not this week, anyway. I think I’ll just stick with these Sweet Cherry Shortbread Bars instead.

These bars have everything you love about sweet cherry pie, but are half the work. Less than half, even. There’s buttery crust and crunchy, nubbly topping. There’s sticky, not-too-sweet cherry filling. And there’s exactly zero chilling, rolling, crimping, and railing at the universe because the heat is melting all the butter in your must-must-must-stay-cold pie dough. That’s my kind of summer day dessert.

Sweet Cherry Shortbread Bars come together fairly quickly and are very simple to make. Leave your mixer in the cabinet–you won’t need it today. Just fold together a couple pounds of pitted sweet cherries (feel free to use frozen), sugar, nutmeg, cornstarch, and salt. I like to add a bit of almond extract too, as it pairs well with cherries, but feel free to leave it out if you don’t have any or are allergic to tree nuts. The filling will look powdery at first, but it will release some liquid as it sits.

The next step is making the shortbread. I freaking love shortbread. It requires minimal ingredients and ability, and is far more than the sum of its parts. Here, it serves as both the crust and the topping. To make this shortbread, just rub cold butter into a mixture of flour, sugar, and salt. A cohesive dough will not form–the mixture will be powdery overall, but should hold together when pinched. Once the butter is broken down in the dry ingredients, set aside a cup of the mixture for topping.

Next, assemble the bars. Pour the remaining shortbread mixture into a foil-lined square baking dish and press it into an even layer. Then, dock it with a fork.

Top the crust with the cherry mixture, discarding any excess liquid. Grab that reserved cup of the shortbread mixture. Working with just a little bit at a time, pinch it together and scatter little clumps of dough over the cherries. When that’s done, bake the assembled bars for 40-50 minutes, transferring the pan to the bottom rack at the halfway point. You’ll know they’re done when the filling just barely jiggles when the pan is jostled. Oh, and when your kitchen smells incredible 😊

And now, for the hard part–cooling. Sweet Cherry Shortbread Bars must cool to room temperature before you slice them. It’s the difference between the clean edges you see here and a gooey, crumbly mess. If you are short on time (or just impatient), you may place the pan in the freezer once you can handle it without oven mitts. It’ll bring the bars to room temperature in 45 minutes or so.

Once the bars are cool, use the foil overhang to remove them to a cutting board and peel off the foil. I find this easiest to do by removing the foil on the sides, slicing the bars, and then using a thin spatula to lift them from the foil on the bottom. However you go about it though, you’re in for a treat.

Look at these beauties! That buttery, flaky shortbread and the beautiful cherry filling–I can’t get enough. Who needs pie when you can have Sweet Cherry Shortbread Bars?!

Sweet Cherry Shortbread Bars
makes one 9-inch square pan, about 9 bars

Cherry Filling:
2 pounds whole sweet red cherries, stemmed and pitted
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract (optional)

Shortbread:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes

Place oven racks in top and bottom positions. Preheat oven to 375F. Line a 9-inch square pan with aluminum foil, leaving overhang on two sides. Grease foil with butter. Set aside.

Make cherry filling. In a large mixing bowl, combine pitted cherries, sugar, nutmeg, cornstarch, salt, and almond extract. Fold everything together with a silicone spatula. Set aside, stirring occasionally, while you make the shortbread.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Add cold butter. Use your fingertips to rub butter into flour until the largest pieces are the size of small peas. It will be powdery, but should hold together when pinched. Set aside 1 cup of the mixture for topping.

Pour remaining shortbread mixture into prepared pan. Spread it around to cover the bottom of the pan before using your hand to pack it down into an even layer. Prick several times with a fork. Pour cherries over the top, discarding any excess liquid.

For the topping, use your fingers to pinch together small portions of the reserved shortbread mixture. Scatter them over the top of the cherry layer.

Bake bars on the top rack of the oven for 20 minutes. Move bars to the bottom rack and bake for an additional 20-30 minutes, until the filling just barely jiggles when the pan is jostled. Tent with foil if anything begins to brown too quickly. Let bars cool in the pan on a rack until they reach room temperature.

Use foil overhang to remove bars to a cutting board. Carefully peel off foil (see post above for my method). Use a large, sharp chef’s knife to slice into nine squares. Serve.

Leftover Sweet Cherry Shortbread Bars will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days, or in the refrigerator for up to four.

Chocolate-Dipped Pretzel Shortbread

Orange Cardamom Pistachio Shortbread

2 Replies

Today is the sixth day of holiday treats here on E2 Bakes. As far as baked goods go, I’ve posted recipes for Chai Shortbread Snowballs, Lindor Truffle Peanut Butter Blossoms, Gingersnaps, and Eggnog Bundt Cake. I’ve also posted this seriously easy Hot Chocolate Mix, which is great for gifting. Another great food gift idea? Today’s Orange Cardamom Pistachio Shortbread.

I know that this may not seem much like a typical holiday cookie, but hear me out:

Everybody loves shortbread this time of year. People go crazy for those classic blue tins of the stuff!
Orange and cardamom are extra delicious in the winter. Warming flavors, y’all.
Pistachios. That is all.
Who doesn’t love homemade cookies? Pair a little tin of these with a box of good tea and hand them out to teachers, coworkers, and others who help make your day-to-day easier. They can keep them for themselves or put them out for guests!
These shortbread are ridiculously easy to make.

These little tea cookies are perfect for these last two weeks before Christmas. They’re orangey, nutty, and super buttery. The dough comes together in just a few minutes and is slice-and-bake, so you can make as many or as few cookies as you please. The most difficult part is chopping up the pistachios, but you can skip the cutting board all together and just pulse them in the food processor a few times…although I would much rather wash my knife than the bowl of my food processor 😊

Once the dough is mixed, form it into two logs and wrap them in plastic. Let them chill for a couple of hours before slicing and baking. The pistachios can make this dough a bit challenging to slice, but I’ve got a method that seems to make the process a bit less frustrating.

First of all, use a large, sharp chef’s knife–a sharp blade is crucial to slice-and-bake success. Holding the knife in your dominant hand, use your other hand to gently hold the cookie you are slicing (this will help prevent any breaks). Slice directly down. If the edges of the shortbread rounds crack a bit, just smooth them with your fingers. Lay the sliced cookies on parchment-lined pans and bake for 14-15 minutes, until golden at the edges. Then just let them cool, make yourself a cup of tea, and dunk away!

You and your loved ones will love these Orange Cardamom Pistachio Shortbread! You’ll flip for the warm flavors, crunchy pistachios, and buttery cookie base. When a holiday cookie is this delicious, who cares if it’s traditional?!

Looking for more shortbread? Check out my Chocolate Chip Shortbread, Vanilla-Almond Shortbread, and Whipped Shortbread Snowballs!

Orange Cardamom Pistachio Shortbread
makes about 4 dozen

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons orange zest
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup finely chopped unsalted pistachio meats

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cardamom, and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Add sugar and honey and mix until combined. Add in the orange zest and vanilla extract, and combine. With the mixer running on low, add in flour mixture in two installments, mixing until it is just incorporated. Fold in pistachios. Dough will be crumbly, but should hold together when pinched.

Divide dough in half. Take one half and lay it on a piece of plastic wrap. Using the plastic wrap and clean hands, form the dough into a log. Wrap tightly in the plastic wrap. Repeat with the other half of the dough. Refrigerate wrapped dough for at least 2 hours, or up to three days.

Preheat the oven to 325F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper, and set aside.

Unwrap one log of dough. Using a large, sharp chef’s knife, slice the dough in 1/4″ installments and lay them on the prepared pans one-inch apart. Bake for 14-15 minutes, until the tops no longer look doughy and the edges are starting to brown. Unwrap the other log of dough and repeat the slicing and baking process. Let cool on the pans for for 10 minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely.

These keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for at least a week.

Chai Shortbread Snowballs

1 Reply

Sometimes I make a recipe and like it enough to post it, but then, when I go to make it again, I am disappointed. I feel that way about a few recipes on this site and will be posting better alternatives as we move into 2017.

One that I am out to fix? My Whipped Shortbread Snowballs. They are super buttery and delicious as written, but they are also incredibly fragile. So fragile that coating them in confectioner’s sugar is near impossible. Forget about stacking them in a container or putting them on a cookie tray–they’ll all break. There’s nothing wrong with delicate cookies (I love these Apple Cider Snaps), but I don’t want to make cookies that fall apart the second I go to eat one.

So, how am I going to fix that recipe? Like I do most cookies: I’ll add cornstarch. I love cornstarch. It keeps chewy cookies soft, gives my cakes a tender crumb, and it makes my Chocolate Cream Pie nice and sliceable. Here, it adds just enough structure to these cookies to keep them from crumbling without fundamentally altering the crispy, melty texture. Cornstarch is magic, I tell you. If you want to make a better, sturdier version of my Whipped Shortbread Snowballs, add 1/4 cup of cornstarch when you add the confectioner’s sugar, then follow the recipe as written. Voilà! They’ll still melt in your mouth, but they won’t crumble all over your floors.

I could leave it at that, basically posting the same recipe twice in a year, but that’s not really my style. Today’s shortbread take that classic recipe and turn it up a bit with the addition of chai. Black tea leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and black pepper (yes, black pepper!) are blitzed into the flour before its mixed with the whipped butter, confectioner’s sugar, and cornstarch. The resulting cookies have all the flavors of your favorite chai tea latte. Coat them in more confectioner’s sugar for that signature holiday cookie look and watch them disappear at your next holiday party!

Chai Shortbread Snowballs
makes about 2 dozen cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon black tea leaves (I use PG Tips)
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Coating:
1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar

Preheat oven to 275F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Set aside.

In a food processor, combine flour, tea leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, black pepper, and salt. Process about 15-20 seconds, until tea leaves are broken down. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer for 1 minute, until light and fluffy. Add confectioner’s sugar and cornstarch, and mix for 1 minute. Turn mixer to high and beat for 6 minutes, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Mix in vanilla. Beat in flour mixture in two installments.

Scoop dough in 2 tablespoon increments and place them at least 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake 14 minutes before rotating pans from top to bottom racks. Bake an additional 12-14 minutes.

Let cookies cool on pans for 5 minutes. Place confectioner’s sugar in a small-medium mixing bowl. Gently coat each cookie in confectioner’s sugar before placing it on a rack to cool completely.

Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

Whipped Shortbread Snowballs

8 Replies

I love shortbread. Have you noticed? I’ve only been blogging regularly for five weeks and have already posted a chocolate chip version and a vanilla-almond version. What can I say? I love butter. So, here’s a third shortbread recipe. Now, before you go thinking that I’m a one-trick baker, you should know that this recipe is different. It’s special. Where the other two recipes are thin and crisp, this shortbread is whipped to high heaven and then baked in a low oven until it is just barely baked through. The cookies won’t turn golden–they’ll just be puffy and airy and buttery and magical. Then they’re coated in confectioner’s sugar, which makes their texture even silkier, and has the added benefit of making them look like little snowballs! I hate this term, but these are the kind of cookies that melt in your mouth. They’ll be absolutely divine on a holiday cookie tray. This recipe is anything but complicated, but it does require some precision in the mixing. Let two sticks of butter soften to room temperature. You want them just soft enough to give a little when pressed with a clean finger. Don’t let them get melty at all. Our apartment stays cold in the fall and winter no matter how high we turn the heat, so here’s what I do. I cut the butter into 1/2 inch pats, set them on a plate, and then let them sit for 45 minutes to an hour. Perfectly softened butter every time. Once the butter is soft, place it in a large bowl and beat it with an electric mixer for two solid minutes. Then, add in 1/2 cup of confectioner’s sugar, and beat again until it is completely combined. Do not use granulated sugar here–the cornstarch in the confectioner’s sugar is required if you want a smooth texture. And trust me, you want that texture. Add in a touch of vanilla extract, and beat it again. Now, make sure you have everything you need for the next seven-or-so minutes because you’re in it for the long haul. Beat in the flour, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. And then, keep beating. Beat some more. Beat even more than that. Once the flour is incorporated, you need to beat the dough for six minutes, and no less. This is what makes this shortbread “whipped.” We want this dough to be lighter than air. So, even if it looks like a cloud in a bowl at four minutes, keep going to six. As shortbread has no leavening (hence why it’s “short”), we need all the air we can get into the dough so that our final cookies are domed and gorgeous. The dough, whipped for six full minutes, will look and feel like the fluffiest frosting ever.

Use a small cookie scoop to scoop the dough onto parchment-lined sheet pans. Bake them at 275F for 28-32 minutes. Yes, that seems like eternity for cookies, but we aren’t so much baking these cookies as we are drying them out. Once they are just baked through, let them cool on the pans and then on a rack. I like to coat these in confectioner’s sugar because it makes them look like snowballs! Be extremely gentle as whipped shortbread are very delicate.

This recipe is an excellent base for many holiday cookies, and you will definitely see it again before the Twelve Days of Cookies are over. Whipped Shortbread Snowballs will be a welcome presence at any cookie exchange or holiday party, and would make a delightful holiday gift. De-light-ful. See what I did there?

*crickets*

Anyway… Put Whipped Shortbread Snowballs on your shortlist for holiday baking. “Short” list! Get it?

*more crickets*

Whatever. I think I’m funny.

Need more holiday cookie recipes? Check out my Eggnog Sandwich Cookies and Red Velvet Peppermintdoodles, and come back for nine more cookie recipes before December 25th! Whipped Shortbread Snowballs
barely adapted from Whipped Shortbread by The Kitchen Magpie
makes about three dozen cookies

Cookies:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Coating:
1 1/2-2 cups confectioner’s sugar

Preheat the oven to 275F. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper and set aside.

Place the softened butter in a large mixing bowl. With an electric mixer, cream the butter for two minutes, until fluffy and lighter in color. Beat in confectioner’s sugar and salt, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in vanilla. Add in flour in two installments. Continue beating dough for 6 minutes, until extremely light and fluffy.

Using a small cookie scoop, place dough onto prepared pans, leaving 2 inches between dough balls. Bake for 28-32 minutes until cookies are baked, but not golden brown at all. Let cool on the pans for ten minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely. You may serve these plain, or coat them.

To coat the shortbread, place 1 1/2-2 cups of confectioner’s sugar in a bowl. Gently coat each cookie in the confectioner’s sugar to coat completely before placing them back on the rack.

Whipped Shortbread Snowballs will keep covered at room temperature for up to a week. The coating may sink into the cookies, but that is easily remedied by coating them again. Enjoy!

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