Glazed Ginger Shortbread

Glazed Ginger Shortbread
Adapted from David Lebovitz by Blue Heron Kitchen

David Lebovitz writes that these cookies were inspired by the Ginger Crunch recipe from a cookbook called “The Edmonds Cookery Book”, first published in 1908. Edmonds is a company in New Zealand that produces baking powder. Please check out David's blog (you can link to it under "The Mother Blogs"). You'll want to subscribe.

If you love ginger and butter (or with options to further enhance flaor with cardamom or rose), you’ll adore these. And Ginger Rogers?  Yuz honors, I rest my case:

The glaze calls for Lyle’s (or other brand) golden syrup. Most U.S. markets are growing up and are selling this wonderful syrup from the U.K. If you can’t find it, try some dark corn syrup. If you’re opposed or don’t have any, you can fool around with honey or rice syrup. Agave’s okay, but it’s kind of runny and thin. If you’re committed to Agave, use the darker one.

Use a 13- by 4-inch (34cm x 10cm) rectangular tart pan with a removable bottom. If you don’t have this size, use one that renders similar area. You can use an 8-inch (20cm) square cake pan or a 20 x 30 centimeter rectangular pan, but if you do, line the bottom with a wide piece of foil leaving an overhang over the sides of the pan, then smoothing the sides and buttering the inside. Once the bars are finished, you should be able to lift the foil (and the bars) from the pan easily.

If the dough is giving you a hard time and won't come together, dampen your hands and knead the dough until it does. (It doesn’t need to be perfect.) Transfer the dough to the pan and use the heel of your hand to press it evenly into the bottom. Remember, you're the boss.

Ingredients:

Cookie base
4 1/2 ounces (9 tablespoons, 125g) unsalted butter, room temperature [it should be very soft - truc: to hasten this process, cut butter into slices.]
1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g) [I used sugar infused and perfumed with cardamom ... see below*]
1 1/2 cup (210g) unbleached all-purpose flour [I use King Arthur brand]
1 teaspoon baking powder [Rumford brand - aluminum free. Be sure it's fresh.]
1 1/2 teaspoons ground dried ginger [Be sure it's fresh. In the U.S., Penzey's is a good resource.]

Icing
2 1/2 ounces (5 tablespoons, 75g) butter, salted or unsalted [if you use unsalted, add a pinch of salt; it’s better with some salt.]
2 tablespoons Lyle’s Golden Syrup [available at better markets, markets with “International” aisles (it’s European!) or online at Amazon.com]
3/4 cup (90g) powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon ground dried ginger

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC.) Butter a 13-inch rectangular tart pan or another pan (see above).

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or by hand in a large bowl, make the cookie base by creaming the butter with the sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger.

3. Mix the dry ingredients into the creamed butter mixture until well-combined. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured countertop and knead it until the dough is relatively smooth. (If the dough is dry, dampen your hands to add a bit of moisture.)

4. Press the dough into the prepared pan and flatten the surface.

5. Bake the dough for 15-20 minutes, until it’s light golden brown.

6. Five to ten minutes before the dough is done, making the icing by heating the 2 1/2 ounces of butter and golden syrup in a small pan, then mix in the sifted (ALWAYS sifted!) powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon ginger, stirring until smooth.

7. When you take the shortbread out of the oven, pour the warm icing over the cookie base. Let sit for about 20 to 30 minutes, then remove from the pan and slice while still slightly warm.

I sliced them in accordance with the pan’s fluting, so with this tart pan, the recipe yielded about two dozen fairly thin cookies. You can slice them thicker if you want to, say, sell them in an independent coffee shop.

 * To make cardamom sugar: use a glass jar and pour about 1/3 of the way up with granulated sugar, add whole green cardamom (about one heaping tablespoon), pour another 1/3 of the way up and add another heaping tablespoon. Close the jar and in a few days, your sugar will be infused! The sugar will ‘keep’ for six months to a year. It’s great in recipes like this one, or sprinkled on top of scones or biscuits. 
For rose sugar: follow directions above, replacing cardamom with edible, dried rose buds. Rose sugar is gorgeous. You'll use it in butter cookies, buttercream, meringue and la vie en..xo 

Cranberry Bread (with ginger!)

Cranberry Bread

Blue Heron Kitchen

            After comparing at least six cranberry bread recipes, I left one out for reference.  That one was Bernard Clayton, Jr.’s Complete Book of Breads.  I’m always happy that I own this book. The original is out of print, but you can get used copies for $.01. Not a bad price.

            Orange is a natural with Cranberries, which are also called Mossberries (I learned that from Bernard). Use organic Valencias (at room temperature, you’ll get a good squeeze out of them). If you don’t have fresh oranges on hand, use store bought OJ. But for gmo’sake, buy organic. Bob’s Red Mill whole-wheat pastry flour is great. If you want to go all out whole wheat, get yourself a five-pound bag of King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat. It’s my new favorite flour. Just be sure that when you measure out, you scoop and level with a light touch. Don’t pack it in. European style butter (83% butterfat makes a difference. It trumps American butter in every way. Look for Plugra or Cabot brand.  In the New York Metro area, find them at Fairway or better markets.  You can use French butter, but it’s a fortune. Save it for the sablés.)  Be confident in your butter. If it’s not fresh, it will ruin your baking. Ask yourself this: would I spread this on toast I’m serving to my convalescing best friend? If the answer is “no”, throw it out. (Truc: freeze butter.  Keep it away from other things in the fridge. Or, pretend you’re European and just leave it on the counter. Nobody’s dead in Europe from leaving his or her butter out.) 

I used pecans and candied ginger in this loaf.  You can use one, both or neither. Try other nuts or other dried fruit. Toast your nuts first (most often in baked goods – it allows the oils to surface and alters the product and taste … really.) Spread them in a single layer and toast them in a preheated oven at 350º F. for about 8-10 minutes or until you can just begin to smell them. Be vigilant when you toast nuts. If you burn them, you’re really out of luck.  Cool them before you chop them. If you toast a larger quantity than is called for in the recipe, store them in a jar. They’re delicious.

Wash and dry the cranberries thoroughly, discarding any funky ones.  I never look forward to chopping them by hand because they’re unruly.  Put them in the food processor and give them about 8-10 quick pulses and you won’t have to go chasing escaped cranberries rolling all over your counter and floor.  Use a medium grate for the orange rind. Microplane Zester has a really high-end box grater.

This recipe uses almost one full bag of fresh cranberries. You’ll have some leftovers.  You can freeze them or throw them into your food processor or blender with a piece of fresh orange, rind and all, (about ¼ to ½  of one), some nuts, currents or raisins or dried cranberries and sweetener (Agave syrup or stevia) for a quick little relish.

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour or King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat Flour

1 ¾ cups granulated sugar

1/4 tsp. orange oil, optional

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground ginger (if you’re adding candied ginger – if not, it’s your call)

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (I use Baldwin’s. always)

2 tsp. kosher salt

4 oz. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and frozen for about 10 minutes (or longer)

1 ½ c. freshly squeezed orange juice (no need to strain – but remove any seeds)     (approximately 4-5 juicy oranges will render enough juice)

2 Tbsp. orange zest (zest of one large orange – just the rind, not the white pith)

2 eggs, size large, room temperature

1 cup chopped, toasted pecans

½ cup candied ginger, organic preferred

2 cups (approx. 8 oz.) fresh (or fresh/frozen) cranberries, coarsely chopped

Turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top of loaves (optional)

Procedure:

PREPARE:

Brush 2 large or 1 medium and a mélange of ‘other’ sized loaf pans with melted butter, vegetable oil, or a combination of the two. For an easier release, dust the pans with some flour. Be sure to give a good zetz (do it in the kitchen sink) to remove all flour that isn't lightly clinging to the butter or oil that you just used to prepare your loaf pans. You can do this step last once you see how much batter you have. But do have pans available and at hand so that you can get the batter into the oven asap. Once the dry meets the wet stuff, the rising agents will be activated. Think about how much you hate sitting in the waiting room or how great you looked when you boarded the flight.

1. Preheat oven to 350º F.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, coarsely chop the cranberries (or chop them by hand if you’re adventurous.) Set aside.
3. Chop the candied ginger into ½” pieces and mix with the chopped pecans. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl mix orange zest into the measured out sugar. If you’re using the orange oil, add that too. Set aside.
5. In a large liquid measure cup, measure out the orange juice and crack the eggs directly into the orange juice. To this, add the vanilla extract. Whisk together. Set aside.
6. In the bowl of a Kitchen Aid mixer, or in a large mixing bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground ginger (if using) and sugar that has been infused with orange zest (and if you’re using it, orange oil).
7. With the paddle attachment (or using two knives or your fingers) add the very cold butter and mix until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
8. Dump in the orange juice/egg/vanilla extract mixture and mix only until the ingredients are wet.
9. Add cranberries, nuts and candied ginger all together. Mix, either by hand or with the paddle attachment, folding in very quickly, until just incorporated. Less mixing means better cake.
10. Pour a little more than ½ way into each prepared pan.
11. Bake anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending upon the size of your loaf pan and the heat of your oven, until a wooden toothpick or a metal cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
12. Cool on rack before releasing from pans. You may have to run a sharp knife around the edges.
13. After releasing from pans, cool completely and wrap well.
14. Try to wait until the next day to eat these. The flavor will develop and improve.
15. These refrigerate and freeze well.

Happy autumn!

peace and love,

jane