Everything But The...Butter

Chocolate Chip Shortbread!

This is a literal "everything but the butter" recipe - our packaged baking mix will come with everything you need to make this delicious shortbread cookie, all you have to do is add 2 sticks of butter.

Here's the dry mix:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

In a medium sized bowl, simply stir in a cup (2 sticks) of room temperature butter into the dry ingredients until it becomes a crumbly consistency with the butter fully incorporated.

Press the mixture (it will be more of a crumble, not a dough) into a 8" by 8" or 9" by 9" glass pan, using a piece of wax paper to help you push it down flat without it sticking to your fingers. You can also use the bottom of a plate or pot to help you get a super flat top.

Place the pan in a pre-heated 300 degree oven for one hour. Just leave it alone, no need to check on it and no need to open the door if you followed the directions.

After one hour, remove the shortbread from the oven and use a sharp knife to cut it into squares, allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before trying to remove the squares from the pan. The cooling allows them to solidify, reducing the potential to crack when you go to remove them.

Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

A fun alternative to cutting the shortbread into squares is using a cookie cutter. Use a sharp edged metal cutter in a simple shape (intricate cutters features smaller angles which won't turn out as well due to the thickness of this recipe). Arrange on a platter and enjoy with a glass of eggnog, as I did last night!

BUTTER

Today I tested two "Everything but the butter" recipes I've been meaning to bake. The first is a twist on shortbread, the second a low-fat brownie.

Chocolate Chili Shortbread
This take on a classic shortbread incorporates cocoa powder and chili powder (as well as a few red pepper flakes) to really build the flavor. After mixing my dry flour/sugar/etc. mixture, I folded in a stick of butter and pressed the mixture into a round metal pan.

Chocolate Chili Shortbread

The results were not exactly what I hoped for, and I'd like to list them (this recipe came from Epicurious so I blame them for the fail. J/K).

• Shortbread, though much easier on the home cook to press into a pan, really needs to be rolled out to a thin consistency to reduce the baking time and provide uniformity. 
• I may be crazy for using chili flakes because I inhaled a flake on first bite, setting off a coughing fit. Lovely. 
• Cooking time was about 50 minutes, way too long for a leisurely home chef. I need to think of ways to reduce this. 
• Crunchiness - part of me feels I overbaked it, but it has a really nice crunch that I like. I think I need to eat more mass market shortbread to see what people are generally used to. 

Do you have any favorite shortbread recipes / ideas / flavors you want to share with me? Leave a comment below.

Chocolate Chili Shortbread

Low Fat Brownies
I've tasted some great "just add yogurt" boxed brownies in the market and, though not as gooey or decadent as a full-fat brownie, I feel like there's a great market for a simpler, lighter brownie mix.

To doll mine up I added a teaspoon of cinnamon and a 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts. The walnuts were a great, crunchy addition but the overall consistency of the finished brownies was a bit too cake-like. I'm looking for that super dense kind of brownie mouth-feel. Must keep testing!

Low fat brownies

In looking at some additional yogurt-as-fat brownie recipes online, I saw some commercial producers use wheat gluten and egg white powder to create a more batter-like consistency. I've started my bulk buying list and will be ordering these soon. We'll see what the future testing produce...other than a growing waistline.

So, how do you feel about cinnamon with chocolate?
Are you a brownie purist and only the traditional will do?
Does chili-spiced chocolate get your mojo going?

Leave your reply in the comments below - would love to hear your thoughts!

Nuclear Rice!

Have you tried these delicious little morsels from Trader Joe's? Baked Rick Snacks (Yaki Onigiri).

Yaki Onigiri

Everyone that knows me, knows that I sing the praises of Trader Joe's on a regular basis, but this item is a new favorite! Small (about 2 inch corner to corner) rick snacks that are lightly caramelized and easy to heat and eat. I mean, you microwave for a minute and they taste fresh from the steamer.  Hello awesome.

So, how do I like my nuclear rice? Today I pan-fried some tofu and made a quick cucumber salad to accompany them. (I also devour them on their own in slightly more than one minute).

I love rice wine vinegar, so I dressed the cucumbers in simply that, along with some diced scallions for added crunch. For the tofu, I put a little regular and sesame oil in a pan and fried each side of the tofu "fillets" for about 2 minutes on each side until they brown slightly.

And here's lunch. Notice the nearly fat-free nature of this meal...gotta do something to make up for the pounds of butter, flour and sugar I'm consuming with all the baking I'm doing (more posts on that later).

Pan-fried tofu, deglazed with a little ponzu

Nuclear lunch!