Monday, April 30, 2012

Hungarian Shortbread


This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie/Baking with Julia recipe is Hungarian Shortbread. Thanks to the tips from my peeps in the group who had already made the recipe, I knew to prebake the crust for 15 mins, reduce the amount of sugar in the dough, use the food processor instead of a box grater to grate the dough, and dust with power sugar after the shortbread had completely cooled.  The recipe calls for a pound, (Yes, you heard me; I said a pound. ) of butter. However, given that swimsuit season is rapidly approaching and I’m already carrying some extra winter weight, to limit my temptation, I cut the recipe in half and only used a scant two sticks of butter. 







If you follow my blog, you know I am a tough critic and don’t hand out complements lightly, so when I say this recipe is “da bomb,” you know this is a mighty good cookie.   This is the shortbread of the gods.  It’s somewhat light, due to grating the frozen dough instead of rolling it. It has a buttery crust and a gooey jam filling. Tasters at my house gave the shortbread rave reviews.  One four-year old taster in particular requested five more pieces.  Given the amount of butter and sugar in this bad boy, that didn’t happen.  You can find the recipe at Tuesdays with Dorie/Baking with Julia or better yet buy the book Baking with Julia.



12 comments:

  1. Thank goodness for the P&Q section! Trying to keep the weight off is a lot of work with this group.

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  2. Yeah.. it DID have quite a bit of butter.. but I think thats what made these better..even at the cost to the weighing scales!! :) Did you use rhubarb jam?? Yours looks quite a bit like mine....

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  3. Delicious Shortbread... I'm definitely going to make it again.
    I loved it, and though I'd reduced the sugar, the butter and added yoghurt it still was great!
    Thanks for baking along!
    Greetings from Switzerland.

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  4. A request for 5 more pieces is high praise indeed! The are loaded with sugar and butter and so rich just a bite or two will do...unless you/re 4 years old:) I had to laugh, though, about your mention of swimsuit season. Its an age thing. I halved the recipe and froze most of the cookies because I have high cholesterol:)

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  5. Your shortbread turned out so pretty and golden. That is a great endorsement from the little one!

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  6. Glad to hear they were such a hit at your place! They look lovely.

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  7. Very pretty! And I agree, it is very hard to keep the weight down with all this baking. The next recipe may just top this one, though!

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  8. Yours looks great and I sure do wish I would have read some of the tips before making mine ;)

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  9. Your shortbread looks lovely. This recipe is great, but a bit rich. I should have only made half.

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  10. Wow - five more pieces, huh? That is high praise, indeed!
    They look great - thanks for baking along this week.

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  11. yes, a scant to sticks. :) i also cut it in half, but could've polished off a whole recipe, i'm sure.

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  12. Yum!! Did you just stick hunks of dough in the food processor or did you use the grater attachment? I haven't made this one yet but really want to. Over the weekend we bought a tiny rhubarb plant, thankfully I'll be able to get some from a friend for this recipe and won't actually need to wait 2 years until my plant is big enough :D

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