FANCY SHORTBREADS

I fancied up my shortbread recipe for the annual Christmas tray. These were only the leftovers. Half of the dough received the pecan treatment and I added dried blueberries to the other half.

FANCY SHORTBREADS  

3/4 cup soft butter

1 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup icing sugar

• Cream the butter a little but do not beat it until frothy, it should not grow in volume. 
• Creaming the butter on its own will help the dough come together, but overbeating will make it too soft to handle. 
• Sift together the flour, cornstarch and the icing sugar. 
• Combine the creamed butter with the flour mixture. 
• You can flavor the shortbread with some vanilla bean scraping, but extract adds moisture and makes the dough too wet and chilling the dough will not help much. 
• Shape half of the dough into 1 inch balls. 
• Place 1- 1/2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. 
• Flatten them lightly with the palm of the hand and press a pecan into the middle. 
• Add a handful of dried blueberries to the rest of the dough and kneed to combine. 
• Shape the dough into 1 inch balls. 
• Place 1- 1/2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. 
• Flatten lightly with floured fork. 
• Bake at 300F for 15-20 minutes until edges are lightly browned.

WHITE CHOCOLATE SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM

Swiss meringue buttercream is not for the faint of heart. Lots of people seem to find it difficult, but there is plenty of help too if you run into trouble. Some bloggers list endless do’s and don’ts. My advice is don’t think you know better, just follow the recipe. Be organized and clean and it will work for you. This is the most luxurious, silky smooth buttercream imaginable.

WHITE CHOCOLATE SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM 

5 egg whites 

1 1/2 cups sugar 

2 cups unsalted butter 

1/4 tsp salt 

3/4 cup white chocolate 

• Cube the butter first and set aside.
• Meanwhile melt the white chocolate in a microwave at 15 seconds intervals, stirring after each until melted.
• Cool the chocolate to room temperature.
• Combine the egg whites sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.
• Place the bowl over pot of simmering water so the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl.
• Whisk the egg whites until just hot to the touch.
• Set the mixer on high and whip the egg whites until thick and cooled down to room temperature. This should take 5 minutes or longer.
• Turn the mixer speed down to medium and using a spoon, add the butter one cube at the time. Make sure the butter is fully incorporated before adding the next one.
• Add the melted room temperature white chocolate and vanilla and mix to combine, [don’t beat] until smooth.
• If the icing is too runny, refrigerate briefly until it thickens.