Cranberry Shortbread for the Win

I saw this book in Williams Sonoma a while back, but managed to resist the temptation to take it home with me.

A few weeks ago it showed up in Marshalls and my resolve crumbled. (See what i did there?) With Christmas just days away, I had to have this book with its delicately frosted stars and beautiful candy cane pirouettes.  I finally got a chance to bake up a few recipes from it this weekend and I'm pretty happy with the results. I have yet to reproduce some of the more precisely decorated cookies, but the  simple shortbread has been quite a tasty success.
 
The original recipe called for dried cherries, but I substituted cranberries to Christmas it up. The results were surprising - it's been the sleeper hit in our house. Who knew shortbread could be so alluring? I bet the shortbread results to my jeans will be less so.

Dried Cranberry Shortbread
Adapted from Dried Cherry Shortbread from The Art of the Cookie by Shelly Kaldunski

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Have a 10 inch tart pan with a removable bottom ready
2.  Whisk the flour and salt together in a bowl.  Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and 1 1/4 C of the sugar until light and fluffy. (about 2-3 minutes) Beating on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture, beating until almost incorporated. Add the vanilla and dried cranberries and beat on low speed, just until the dough forms large clumps and pulls away from the side of the bowl. Press the dough evenly into the tart pan with your hands. Prick the entire surface of the tart with a fork at 1 inch intervals.

It looks like a lot of pricks, if you ask me

3.  Place the pan on a baking sheet and bake until the the center is lightly golden-brown - about 30-35 minutes. Immediately sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar over the shortbread (I used vanilla sugar which was really tasty) and use a sharp chef's knife to cute the shortbread into squares. Let cool in the pan, about 30 minutes.
4.  Remove the cookies from the pan and store in an airtight container. Keeps up to 4 days.

This is the kind of picture you get after a long day of baking. Sorry. It's delicious, I promise.

- Jenn

Cranberryaholics Anonymous

Has anyone else out there had this strange compulsion to buy bags and BAGS of discounted fresh cranberries left over from the holiday season?  Every time I see a bag and the price says $1, I grab it, I am not even sure it is a conscious decision, maybe the cranberries are finding me.  Perhaps in my last 6 months of utter joblessness I am starting to lose my mind?  I mean do I really think when next year comes around, I won't be able to spend the $2.50 on a bag of regular priced cranberries?  Have I started to go into hoarding mode?  If so, why cranberries?  These questions plaque me every time I try to get into my freezer and have to search under bags of cranberries to find what I am really looking for- you know, actually food I can cook for dinner.  Have I mentioned that I don't even like cranberries that much?

Oh well, here's a a cranberry recipe (original stolen from http://www.bigoven.com/, it has been tweaked):

Cranberry Jelly

2 14 cups water
1 (12) ounce package of fresh cranberries- or freshly thawed cranberries in my case
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 cinammon stick
1/2 tsp vanilla

In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the cranberries and cinammon stick and boil over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

Puree the cranberries in a food processor and strain.  Don't forget to remove the cinnamon stick and discard.

Return the puree to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes. Add the sugar and salt, and cook until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. At this point, I also like to add a bit ,1/2 tsp, of vanilla to sort of round out the cranberriness. Transfer to a bowl, let cool; refrigerate until gelled. I like to put them in little mason jars for serving or giving away for gifts.

Makes about 3 cups.

-Jenny