Simple Shortbread

What's inside this darling package? 

Little shortbread moons with shimmery sugar sprinkles. They are classic, sweet and crisp. Perching sweetly on a tea cup or a little platter they are ideal company for afternoon or evening tea. But I have to admit I ate most of my cookies for breakfast! 

The recipe itself is simple, but the rest can be only as complex as you want it to be. I cut out my short bread with a cookie cutter then used a paring knife to make a notch et violà! 

Shortbread Cookies

makes 20-25 cookies

1/4 cup unrefined sugar + 1 tablespoon for sprinkling (62 grams + 12 grams)

1/2 cup of butter, room temperature (120 grams)

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract (2.5 ml)

pinch of salt

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour (150 grams)

Cream the butter and the 1/4 cup (62 grams) sugar together. Next add the vanilla. With a wooden spoon mix in the flour and salt by pouring half in, giving a few stirs, then the remaining bit. Mix until it starts to come together then shape into a ball. On a plastic wrap flatten the ball with the palm of your hand. Wrap and refrigerate for one hour.  Sprinkle a wee amount of flour on a clean counter and sprinkle a rolling pin with flour as well. Roll out to 3/4 cm thick, cut with a cookie cutter (you may need to slip a knife underneath to lift them up and clean up the edges). Prepare a tray with baking paper and bake at 350F/180C for 8-10 mins. Sprinkle immediately with the sugar set aside. Cool slightly on the tray then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

*I made a gluten free version for my friend. The perching moons can be done, but are much more fragile! Instead of all-purpose flour I used 1 1/4 cup of a gluten free blend (rice, potato, tapioca, maize buckwheat) and added 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum. 

P.S. I'm now on Bloglovin

Sophie Dahl : Poetry on a plate

I like to eat food that is not only tastes good, but is beautiful. Gourmet food can be a bit stuffy, so I prefer Sophie Dahl's style that is blousy in all the right ways yet simple and healthy.  I read her books and I feel that I can turn what's on the stove into poetry on a plate. Her food style can only be that of both a cook and a fictional writer. It nourishes and makes you think of what you eat not as a time slot in your day, but a moment in life. Are you feeling sad? Eat comforting food. Celebratory? Throw a feast. Romantic? Light the candles and sprinkle a few sugared rose petals over your dessert. Nostalgic? Make the dish that you had in memories. Life is too short to just eat, so even when I'm preparing my own meals on a little budget I think if I were Ms. Dahl and what she would I do - my muse. ♥

Who is your muse?

Creamy Jelly

You will need:

1 box fruit jello

1 can of coconut milk

jello moulds 

jug

hot water

olive oil for greasing

This recipe is inspired by the Elderflower Jelly recipe found in Ms. Dahl's Voluptuous Delights. Make your jelly based on the box recipe, using coconut milk instead of cold water.  With a paper towel lightly grease your jelly moulds and then pour in your pastel mixture.  Cover and refrigerate until set.  Top with matching fruit to your jelly flavour and sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional). 

Gibson Girl Decorations

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the debut of my violet scones featuring the Gibson Girls. I hope you enjoy ♥

Gibson Girl Decorations 

 Go to a website like Wikipedia that has a little collection of Gibson Girl faces or Google search "Gibson Girl". Pick out your favourite faces and save them in word document. Shrink them down to the size you prefer, mine were about the size of a quarter. Print and cut them out and glue them to a toothpick. For a polished look as you are cutting out the face layer a second piece of paper underneath and cut through both. Cover the second, plain piece of paper with glue and stick to the back, concealing the toothpick. 

*This post was updated on April 5th. 

Ok, so when I first published this post it was about violet scones, not the Gibson Girls. But truth be told, the scones I had planned in my mind required either growing my own violets or finding some unsprayed ones and in my impatience I created a recipe that was nice, but it didn't leave me wanting more. So ultimately it didn't pass my own test! I had fun though dreaming about how I would display my scones if I had my own bakery and I wanted to instil something old, but beautiful, which is why I chose the Gibson Girls. If you've never heard of them, they were created by Charles Dana Gibson in the late 19th century to emulate the ideal beauty of the time inspired by real women like Evelyn Nesbit - gorgeous women who's pompadour hair seemed to fall in all the right places. These drawings like some other art of this time period is now in the public domain because it is so old the copyright has been lifted. I think the Gibson Girls would look lovely  on top of pastel coloured cupcakes as well, but here you can enjoy them on the faint memory of violet scones.

Rose Petal Sugar Cookies

Yesterday I had a list of things to do and one thing was to bake something that would be a good accompaniment for a movie, which ended up being Midnight in Paris. Matt and I do loads together, but sometimes we do things purposely apart, which left me to my own devices.  Last night I dreamt of eating a cookie that was really girly, but also really comforting. I love sugar cookies, and didn't want to take the time to let the dough chill for an hour, and then cut out shapes, ect. so alas came this recipe. Making dough balls does take time, but I put on some vintage jazz as the world was coming home from work all tired and worn out, I was having fun in the kitchen.  

You can sub the rose petals for any other kind of flower or just use sprinkles. The taste of rose is very subtle - to intensify it add a hint of rose water at the last stage of making the glaze. Here's the recipe that developed from my rosy kitchen last night:

Sugar Cookies

¾ cup of unsalted butter, softened (170 g)

a generous ¾ cup *demerara sugar (187 g)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Makes approximately 44 cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 400F/200C/180CFan and cream the butter and sugar together. 2. Add the eggs and vanilla until mixed. 3. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt until well blended.  4.  With a dessert spoon, scoop out a small spoonful of dough and roll it between your hands to form a ball.  5. Lay the ball on a baking sheet with baking paper and press the ball lightly to flatten it around ½ inch in height.  6.  Repeat until all the dough is used.  7. Bake for 8 minutes until cookies reach a nice light golden brown.  9. Remove from tray to cool.

*You can use raw sugar as well or a mixture of ¼ cup (50 g) brown sugar and ½ cup (125 g) raw sugar.

Rose Petal Glaze

¼ cup edible rose petals to sprinkle (handful)

1 cup icing sugar (125 g)

2 T milk

1 drop pink food colouring

1.  In a bowl combine the icing sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk. Stir until a thick paste forms.  2. Add the second tablespoon of milk and stir until well mixed.  3. Add the drop of food colouring.  4. With a small spoon pour a gentle glaze over the cooled cookies.  Followed by a sprinkle of rose petals. 5. Leave to set before serving or storing.