Thursdays With Dorie ???
Yes, you read that right! I finally got around to posting the Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbread Cookies I made on Monday! For those of you who are new here, it's supposed to be Tuesdays With Dorie, because our baked goods are supposed to be posted on Tuesdays! DUH!
The recipe for the week wasn't really shortbread cookies, it was a Chocolate Banded Ice Cream Torte. Well, you guessed it! Another ice cream dessert and me with no freezer!
I do have a freezer, but it's so tiny that I could only fit one pint of Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra in it! Or maybe Ben & Jerry's straight Chocolate ice cream. Either one is fine with me, but never both at once! Forget a HUGE ice cream cake!
Tuesdays With Dorie's fearless leader gave me the OK to make one of the archived recipes that I came in too late for. Thus, the Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbread Cookies were brought back to life! Because this was the very first recipe that TWD ever did, there were only 2 or 3 bakers at the time. I can't find the recipe online anywhere. So, if you have the book Baking: From My Home To Yours, you can find the Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbread Cookie recipe on page 127.
Milk & Cookies & Men
Man, I can't get anything past John! He can smell cookies or anything I have in the oven from the car! As soon as he came in he asked,
John: "Whadja make?" Then he saw the cookies. "Oooo, cookies! What Kind?"
Donna (Me): "I mean, come on, does it really matter what kind, you're gonna eat them anyway! They're Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies"
John: "There's a broken one. What happened to that one?"
Me: "Does it really matter if it's broken, you're gonna eat it anyway!"
John: "Why do I always get the rejects?"
Me: "You're family. Family ALWAYS gets the rejects. You don't think I'm gonna photograph the broken one do you? How would that look?"
John: After the first one goes down with a whole glass of milk, "Can I have another one?"
Me: "No, I didn't take pictures yet."
John: "Why don't you take the pictures BEFORE I get home?"
Me: "Because they weren't cool enough to put the affectionate sugar on yet."
John: "Why do we always have to eat everything lukewarm?"
Me: "They're frickin' cookies! They're supposed to be eaten lukewarm."
And that's how our life has been since I became the Blair Witch Blogger! Anyway....................
These cookies were way too easy to be good. The only issue I have is Dorie and all her butter! 2 sticks of butter in this recipe! To be fair, shortbread cookies HAVE to be made with real butter. There's no point in going through the trouble of making cookies and heating up the oven if you don't use real butter in shortbread cookies! Margarine in shortbread cookies? PSHAW!
The other situation I found myself in was that the oven only holds one medium cookie sheet. The recipe makes 32 shortbread cookies. In retrospect, I could have done it, since I later found out how small the finished cookies REALLY are! I needed to improvise, so I pulled out my trusty Wilton heart shaped cake pans and pressed the dough into that. Since I went from making 32 cookies to 7, I needed to readjust the baking time from 20 minutes to 35.
Look at this view! This is my backyard!
The brown sugar in these cookies really makes the difference. It smelled heavenly, like a Penuche Fudge Factory! Oooo, fudge...I have to make fudge again! I love Penuche Fudge. OK, I have to confess that I have what's known as ADOS. In layman's terms, that means "Attention Deficit, Ooooo Shiny!" Yeah, I go from one shiny thing to the next, which is why I was so attracted to John...I mean my new Shiny Silver Cuisinart hand mixer!
Back to the cookies! No eggs in these cookies, but the corn starch is a must for that melt-in-your-mouth experience. And, they did! Start to finish, these cookies were easy, delicious and did I say easy? They're not the prettiest girl at the dance. They're blah and brown. The taste makes up for their appearance. I guess you could say, "She has a nice personality, AND she's easy!"
And then there was one...................
What a backdrop for those luscious cookies. I sure wish I didn't need to lose wt. as I would be making these as we speak. I just may have to get Dorie's cookbook. so many good recipes.
Cheryl
Posted by: Cheryl Sims | August 29, 2008 at 07:52 AM
You are so funny! The cookies look great, and your husband sounds like mine...or sometimes he'll do a "driveby" and i'll notice missing cookies. Gotta keep an eye on those men of ours!
Posted by: Kimberly | August 29, 2008 at 12:51 PM
You are so funny. Love the conversation. Sounds familiar. And man do I ever love your backyard. Lets see could I give up nearly all my worldly possessions...
Posted by: Lori | August 29, 2008 at 07:43 PM
Love your pictures and your story!
Posted by: Barbara | August 29, 2008 at 08:19 PM
Wow - the only thing better than brown sugar pecan shortbread cookies might be enjoying them with that gorgeous view! I really do need to pick up a copy of this cookbook - so impressed with the desserts that come from it.
Posted by: PaniniKathy | August 29, 2008 at 09:00 PM
I made these this morning and brought them into work, everyone devoured them! I don't even like shortbread that much so it always surprises me when others profess their love for it. But it's a Dorie recipe, so I really should have expected nothing less...
Posted by: brilynn | August 29, 2008 at 09:35 PM
Oh your cookies look delicious. I like that you made them in heart sahpes. Blair Witch Blogger! Now that is darn funny! Love your backyard view.
Mary
Posted by: Mary C. Anderson | August 30, 2008 at 02:51 AM
These cookies look amazing! I love your backyard! Blair Witch Blogger? I love it!
Posted by: Liliana | August 30, 2008 at 09:21 AM
I have this cookbook and I still haven't made any of the recipes!! I really need to crack that sucker open...those cookies look great!
Posted by: Erin @ dessert girl | August 30, 2008 at 06:23 PM
Man, I was so looking forward to this recipe. My hubby is a pecan shortbread cookie fanatic and I thought this would be right up his alley!!! How hard would it be to post the recipe??? Please, pretty please. Judy
Posted by: Judy Veasey | September 02, 2008 at 12:39 PM