Sablés (Shortbread Cookies)

I have not made even a single cookie recipe for the ongoing blogging marathon, except if you consider the giant cookie cake as a cookie. There were no cookies even on the initial list. Cookies didn't even cross my mind and now when I'm thinking of it, I don't really know the reason why.

I think I associate cookies with Christmas and may be that's why I don't think of them during the rest of the year. But I know one thing for sure that my kids would some homemade cookies once in a while and I should be baking them more often.

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Pecan Shortbread Cookies

For this month's Home Baker's Challenge, our host Sharanya Pathmanathan @ Just Not the Cakes has chosen a very interesting theme -- American food holidays for the month of January. She gave us 6 food holidays to choose from and I picked National Shortbread Day which is celebrated on January 6th. I didn't know that there were so many food days, so big thanks to Sharanya for introducing us to these mouth watering days. Here are the other food holidays that were on Sharanya's list:
January 16 -- National Fig Newton Day
January 21 -- National Granola Bar Day
January 22 -- National Blonde Brownie Day
January 23 -- National Pie Day
January 29 -- National Corn chip Day
Aren't those totally awesome days, what a great idea to enjoy food!!
I wanted to bake Fig Newtons and Granola bars too, but as usual time was short and I made only the shortbread cookies.

Shortbread cookies have become my new favorite kind of cookies to bake. They are so quick and easy to put together -- combine all the ingredients and that's it, you are good to go. Dough either goes into the fridge for chilling or straight into the baking pan for baking. Also the resulting cookies have a great texture and they just melt in your mouth.

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Fruit & Nut Cookies (Pistachio-Cranberry Shortbread Cookies)

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: Cookies
Dish: Fruit & Nut Cookies (Pistachio-Cranberry Cookies)

Here's Wishing everyone a very Happy, healthy & prosperous New Year 2014.
Our blogging marathon group is back again in the new year with BM# 36. To start the new year on a sweet note, I'm making some cookies for the first week of the marathon. I wanted to post a savory cookie too, but posted this baked mathri last week/ year itself.

I made 3 types of cookies and this eggless fruit cake to give as edible gifts this Christmas season. Last few years the cookies I made for Christmas had eggs in them and it didn't bother me. But this year I was baking for family who don't eat eggs and I had to find eggless cookie recipes or at least recipes that had only 1~2 eggs, so I can easily replace them egg replacer.

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Pistachio Sandwich Cookies

Blogging Marathon# 27: Week 1/ Day 7
Theme: Occasions/ Goodies to Blog buddies
Dish: Pistachio Sandwich Cookies

When blog buddies meet there is going to be food to eat, food to talk about and food to take home. So after our lunch at I wrote about here, I sent my buddies home with some of my homemade goodies. These pistachio sandwich cookies were one among them.

I love slice and bake icebox cookie recipes. What that means is the dough is made into a log and chilled in the ice box for 4 hours (or up to 3 days, it can even to frozen) and then sliced and baked. I don't like rolling the dough and cutting the cookie using cookie cutters. It seems to too time consuming and messy. I actually have a whole box of cookie cutters that I have never used until now. Maybe when my daughter grows a little older, I can learn with her :-)

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Pistachio Shortbread for 4th Blog Anniversary

I have never in million years thought that moving would be so hectic and moving into your own home would make you insanely busy. We are now all moved in, but not completely settled in. Still have tons of boxes lying around in the basement (what a great place to dump stuff and just forget about—didn’t have this luxury in any of our previous residences). Well right now we are in the process of cleaning things up (and that includes the basement as well) and opening the boxes. So fortunately this past weekend, I found the Tripod and the boxes with my NICER bowls & plates (that I use to take pictures) and I also made something that was worth posting, so here I am finally in my virtual kitchen.

Another occasion to celebrate is “Cook’s Hideout” completes 4 years this month.
Coming to the Pistachio shortbread recipe, I bookmarked the recipe the minute I saw it on King Arthur Flour blog. I just loved the pista green color and the easy to make recipe, but it took me more than 2 months to get to it.

I used Earth Balance buttery sticks instead of regular butter making these Vegan. But after tasting them I realized that Earth Balance has more sodium % than regular unsalted sweet butters, so the shortbreads were little on the salty side, but still buttery & yummy.

Recipe from King Arthur Flour blog.
Ingredients:
Unsalted Butter – 1 cup, at room temperature
Pistachio flavored Pudding mix – 1 3.4oz box (Jell-O brand preferred by experts at KAF as it gives the best color)
Salt – ½ tsp
Sugar – ¼ cup
All-purpose Flour – 2 cups
Pistachio flavor – ¼ tsp (I used Almond extract instead)
Pistachios – 2/3 cup, finely chopped (optional)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 300ºF. Grease 8” or 9” round baking pans or line them with parchment paper and grease the parchment.
  
• In a medium mixing bowl, beat butter, pudding mix, salt, sugar & extract until well combined.
• Slowly add flour and beat until incorporated. It is a little dry to begin with but will come together with continuous mixing. If it absolutely does not come together, dribble in a tablespoon of water and mix until it forms stiff dough.
  
• Divide the dough equally in the two baking pans. Smooth tops with fingers or a pastry roller (see KAF link for this nifty gadget).
  
• Prick the dough all over with a fork. Sprinkle the nuts on the top (if using) and gently press them down into the dough. Bake until its golden brown around the edges, about 35-40 minutes.
  
• Remove from the oven and gently flip them over onto a clean surface immediately. Use a sharp knife or a pizza cutter to cut into wedges while still warm. Let them cool and enjoy.