Tuesday, May 1, 2012

TWD: Hungarian Shortbread

Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan
Contributing Baker: Gale Gand


                                     Hungarian Shortbread

Our Tuesdays with Dorie hosts this week are Lynette of 1smallkitchen and Cher of The Not So Exciting Adventures of a Dabbler…. Visit their blogs for the recipe and their take on this creation.



Separate your egg whites into individual dishes
then freeze. Once frozen warm bowls to loosen
 and transfer to a Ziplock bag to use later.

Light and fluffy.


With five bags of cranberries in my freezer I
decided to make cranberry jam rather than the
rhubarb jam called for in the recipe.

I rolled the dough thin enough to fit in the feed tube
 of a food processor as suggested by this fellow baker.

First layer of grated dough.

I pre-baked the first layer just until it started
to change in color before adding the filling.

I was hoping to have some leftover
jam for toast it was so good.

Bwahaaha...




The first piece cut after a few
 hours of cooling fell apart.

By the next day they held together beautifully.

The cranberry jam had wonderful flavor
before baking. After baking it seemed to
lose its tartness.


I consumed more of these then I wanted to trying to determine if I liked them. The answer was right there on my tastebuds. If I did like them there would be no question and I could have stopped at the first piece (or not.) I kept sampling over and over again trying to find the intense flavor I so imagined these would have and unfortunately it was not found in these bars.

The shortbread turned out softer than I was expecting and my filling did not pack much of a punch. The flavor of the jam really did not come through at all now that I think about it. These I find are a bit on the bland side. (Update: I took the leftovers to our girls-night. Everyone loved them - except me.)

I'm thinking I should change my success meter from numbers to "Is it worth the fat and calories?"

Success meter (1-3): 1/No




My version did not impress me but reading other bakers comments they were happy with their outcome. So don't just take my word on this recipe, try it out for yourself by going to our host's sites mentioned at the beginning of this post to obtain the recipe or you can purchase Baking with Julia at your local independent bookseller or on-line.

On another note I once again have been bestowed upon with another blogger award! This one is from Sabine of Berry Lovely. Thank you Sabine. I am deeply touched by your generous gift. Sabine has a beautiful blog and is an amazing photographer. Take the time to check her site out - her photos are visually captivating.



34 comments:

  1. What wonderful and interesting photos you take! Great post, love it - the photo where you feed the dough through the tube of your food processor really is different - what an interesting idea!

    Congratulations also on receiving the "Liebster Blog" Award - well done!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Andrea. The processor trick I learned from the P&Q section on TWD and glad I did after reading what a workout grating the dough with a box-grater was.

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  2. Cranberry jam sounds wonderful (now I know what to do with some of the jars that are sitting in my pantry...).
    The food processor picture TOTALLY made me laugh out loud. Too funny.
    Great job & thanks for baking along this week.

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    1. It certainly made me laugh! I could not resist posting a photo of it. Thanks.

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  3. Your pictures tell a good story! Good grating idea. I, too, started eating them warm and they fell apart!

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  4. Hahaha love that food processor shot. And what a great blog! Definitely going to mark it :D

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  5. Your top photo looks like it came from a professional bakery! Very nicely done.

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  6. Love your adaptations and substitutions. Great idea to roll the dough for easier food processing. My arms would have thanked me.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, I was very happy I learned that trick from the P&Q section. But what a way to fit in a work-out before consuming all those calories!

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  7. I love your photos. I like this shortbread a lot, but I too wonder if it's worth making again. I'm not sure I can take all that butter again.

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  8. You absolutely did the best job of photographing the Hungarian shortbread process. We will not discuss the tenth photograph. I am surprised the cranberries didn't pack more of a taste wallop for you. They probably lost their battle with the sugar and butter. Not much can cut that pastry sweetness. I will make this again but will use less butter and sugar. I agree with your girlfriends - delicious.

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  9. I also started laughing at that dough coming out of the food processor. So funny! bummer you didn't like them, when I was reading about the cranberry jam, I was thinking, oooh that is a great idea!!! They are beautiful though! and I judge things in the same manner, if it's worth the calories. :)

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  10. I had the same feeling at first, after two days on my kitchen I decided to try again and found it was quite good! Also I agree with the texture, different than I expected!!

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  11. thank you! Had a great laugh at the pic of your dough in the processor!
    Your shortbread is perfect!

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  12. I thought the cranberry jam sounded like such a good idea...bummer that it didn't hold it's tartness after baking! Great photos!!

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  13. Cranberry sounded so good. Sorry it wasn't a success for you

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  14. Beautiful photos.

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  15. I LOVE your success meter and the photo of the dough heading into the food processor. Laugh out loud funny. Especially since I put my dough through the food processor but had to cut it while frozen in order to fit it into the tube. That's a mistake I'll only make once :)

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  16. I used my food processor, but using the feed tube is genius. Thanks for sharing your experience. And...your cranberry filling is so beautiful especially in the top photo...looks perfect.

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  17. Your shortbread looks awesome! I also laughed at the food processor pic! Too funny, but great idea!

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  18. Freezing egg whites is brilliant! I always stick them in my fridge and them forget about them until they are gross!

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  19. You know I read the egg whites tip on the TWD blog, but I had no idea how to do it. I'm glad you had some step by step info on it. Thanks! Also, I love that photo of the frozen dough in the food processor. Hilarious!

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  20. I love the dough in the food processor!! hysterical! I will also use your idea on the egg whites. I am learning so much through everyones experience. Thanks

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  21. Photos are great and I agree with T-Mom the one with the food processor is hysterical.

    Lisa

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  22. I like your idea to use cranberry jam with this recipe! Thanks for sharing your creative strategy on how to freeze egg whites. I keep dumping mine in a container and then I loose count :)

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  23. great idea with the egg whites! Mine are still in the fridge waiting for me to do something with them. :)

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  24. Sorry it was not your favorite! It was a hit here.

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  25. I have to say your photo of the dough awaiting grating is a little alarming! That's one tall log of dough.

    We really liked this, but everyone in our family seems to love rhubarb and the contrast between the tartness of the rhubarb and the sweetness of the shortbread was lovely.

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  26. Congratulations on the award! Sorry about the cranberry jam, it sounds so promising! The pictures look delicious!

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  27. So many great tips in your post - I love the idea of freezing egg whites individually. I always just throw them in a ziploc bag and then can't remember how many are in there! Sorry you didn't like the bars more. They were definitely a lot of fat and calories...

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