Spiced Shortbread

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

It’s the last Sunday in August and you know what that means; pumpkin spice everything is around the corner. I refuse to call these pumpkin spice shortbread, but the taste is similar.

Here’s what you need and what to do:

Turn oven to 325° and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Mix the following spices together in a small dish and set aside.

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon cloves

In a stand mixer (or a big bowl and using a hand mixer), cream together softened butter and confectioner’s sugar.

1 1/4 cups softened butter

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

Add the all-purpose flour in thirds, slowly, so as not to make a mess and incorporate it for a smooth texture. With the last 1/3 of the flour, add 2/3 of the spice mixture.

2 1/4 all-purpose flour

2/3 of the spice mixture, reserve the rest for the last step.

Make cookie balls, about the size of a ping pong ball and place on cookie sheet, leaving space so edges don’t touch. Taking a small glass, gently smush the cookie ball, making a pretty indention. Bake for 12/15 minutes, till cookies are lightly brown. Cool slightly. In the same dish of reserved spices add a couple of tablespoons confectioner’s sugar. Toss warm cookies in the spiced sugar and cool on wire racks. Makes about 30 cookies. Serve with your favorite beverage. I have a creamered up cup of coffee, but as muggy as it is, iced tea would be great. Please, no hot cocoa. This is the South and we won’t cool down for several more weeks. Pumpkin spice, my eye!

I was excited the other week, when I spied this volunteer vine growing in Herman’s flower patch. It looked like a pumpkin vine of some kind, but it’s made these little tiny melon fruits. A mouse melon, a cucamelon, a sour cucumber. I don’t know. Kind of disappointed it’s not a little pumpkin. It’s feeding the wildlife around here, because the fruit I saw last week are gone. The tortoises and the rabbits may be dining together.

Blessings from Herman’s flower patch and the Exile’s Kitchen.

Cindy Lou Who Shortbread/Cookie Dough 102

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

We did it again; got together and made up rolls of different cookie dough to stash in the freezer for easy holiday baking.

A 1949 cookbook from Crisco held two of this years recipes. The third was the shortbread from August Cookie of the Month: Cranberry Pecan Shortbread, a request from the daddy of one of the young ladies at today’s party.

With these traditional cookie recipes we chose different add-ins to make specialty treats. Can you guess by the titles what was put in each cookie creation?

For my shortbread cookies I did a plain recipe and chose to roll the log of dough in red and green sprinkles. I named it the Cindy Lou Who Shortbread.

I will slice, bake and roll in powdered sugar, when I need cookies…. probably really soon…

We had a blast spending time together and prepping for the hectic holidays ahead.

Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.

Continue reading Cindy Lou Who Shortbread/Cookie Dough 102

Counting Cookies

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

I found myself counting, when making cookies this afternoon. Counting when I rolled the shortbread, after dusting them with powdered sugar, and again when room had to be made on the wire rack to cool. Twenty-four all three times. There was some dough saved and rolled into a log, then wrapped in parchment. It went into the freezer for easy cookie baking later in the holiday season.

Fall Shortbread today; modified a recipe I shared last year: August Cookie of the Month: Cranberry Pecan Shortbread Instead of chopped pecans and dried cranberries, I added some sprinkles shaped and colored like Fall Leaves.

I counted twenty-three cookies, when arranged in the vintage Louisa glass serving piece. How’d that happen? Had to taste test, don’tcha know? Powered sugar coated thumbs up! Perfect, if I do say so myself.

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The idea from Pinterest seemed promising, but I’m calling this a fail. Our little pumpkin patch fun takes place tomorrow afternoon. Hoping the activities that are planned will go off better.

Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.

October Cookie of the Month: Cookie Dough 101

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

October’s cookie of the month took a fantastic turn towards teaching, encouragement and fun.  A group of young ladies and their children assembled in the Exile’s Kitchen for Cookie Dough 101. The premise for the get together was to fill the freezer of each family represented with rolls of cookie dough, so Holiday preparations would be easier. To make things light and fun (as if these ladies and girls needed help doing so) we all wore froofroo aprons, with a prize of bakeware for the most June Cleaver-like apron.

20181027_112654 The little girls and boy held in there for the first batch of cookie dough making (August Cookie of the Month: Cranberry Pecan Shortbread), but then the front porch and sunshine and woods called them outside, so the mamas finished the other two recipes. The little girls didn’t want cranberries and pecans in their shortbread and opted for sprinkles. They named their creation: Funfetti Shortbread.

The second cookie dough was a Brown Sugar Cookie, which is good base for any add-in you may want.  The lone teenager of the class added Heath candy pieces and milk chocolate chips to her bowl, calling her mix up Heath Chocolate Bar Cookies.

The third cookie dough was a basic sugar cookie, rolled up in parchment paper and ready for slicing and baking later in the Holiday season.

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Cookie Dough Rolls

Some of the comments today:

“I never think to put on an apron, but I’m digging this.”

“Aprons are handy. They keep your outfit clean and you can dry dishes with it.”

“Is that just a ruffle on yours or pockets too?”

“Yes, pockets. For a recipe card or gathering eggs or holding my loaded pistol..!” Just kidding.

Plans have been made for more gathering in the Exile’s Kitchen for simple beginner classes.

Here’s the Brown Sugar Cookie recipe: cream together 1 cup softened butter and 1 1/2 cups of firmly packed brown sugar. Add 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk, and 1 tablespoon vanilla to butter and sugar. In another bowl, combine 3 cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Then slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture. Then fold in your favorite add-in- chocolate chips, toffee pieces, nuts, whatever, it’s your cookie dough. Bob Ross would agree with me. It Started With A Happy Little Cloud

With a cookie scoop, drop onto parchment lined cookie sheet, two inches apart and bake  at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool slightly on cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Cookie and Froofroo Apron Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.

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September Cookie of the Month: Failure

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

Chocolate Shortbread… it seemed so promising. The Pinterest pictures looked so pretty. I followed the directions and the eggless dough tasted good, before baking. The recipe said to bake for 25 minutes. Well, that was just wrong. The edges came out too dark; burnt chocolate ain’t good. I’m trying to think of a way to save these.

I’ve cut the overbrowned edges off and cooled the shortbread on a wire wrack, still on the parchment. The pretty little marks, imprinted before baking all but disappeared when baked. Frowny face. Hmmmm. Still thinking.

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Okay, this is what I came up with, and it’s not great either, but here goes. I mixed up powdered sugar, butter, milk and a little cocoa, to make a sandwich cookie filling. It came out runny.

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Oh, well. I’ll try again another time. Community Coffee did help, a little.

Story of life. Even easy recipes can be screwed up. Things that should turn out perfectly sometimes don’t. Cut the burnt edges off, smile and smear some sugar on it. And try again. Nothing is really a failure, if you don’t give up.

Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.

August Cookie of the Month: Cranberry Pecan Shortbread

Posted on by theexileskitchen by Amanda Ellison Anglin

This recipe incorporates two of my favorites: dried cranberries and pecans. Shortbread has a minimal amount of ingredients. Easy. Great with hot or cold tea, afternoon coffee.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup of Land-O-Lakes butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

2 1/4 all-purpose flour

4 oz chopped dried cranberries

1/2 cup chopped pecans

A couple tablespoons of granulated sugar and powdered sugar in separate bowls

What to do:

Cream butter and powdered sugar till fluffy. A 1/4 cup at a time, add the flour; Mixer on low, so not to flour up your kitchen. Then add in the dried cranberries and pecans. This dough is stiff.

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Divide the shortbread into thirds, form  two logs, wrapped in parchment paper and label it. Placed in the freezer, it will be ready for gatherings this fall.

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Roll the last part of the shortbread into 1 inch balls and place an inch apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet. With a little glass dipped in granulated sugar, flatten the shortbread.

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Bake in a preheated 325° degree oven for about 15 minutes, depending on your oven. Don’t over brown these cookies. Shortbread is light in color.

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Cool the shortbread slightly on the cookie sheet, then roll in the extra powdered sugar. Next, cool completely on a wired wrack.

These shortbread cookies are light and buttery. I can’t wait for afternoon coffee.

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Shortbread Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.