{ Mélanger :: to mix }

Believe it or not, I do not consume vast quantities of butter, sugar and white flour with unbridled abandon.  Particularly now I am a mother (and responsible for not just my own nutrition), I do have a heightened awareness of what I eat.

Many items that I bake and share on this blog, are, to be perfectly frank, only ‘sometimes treats’.  Certainly not everyday extravagances.  (Well, not now!)

More and more, I am trying to healthify recipes where I can to create an end product with greater nutritional value.

When it comes to shortbread, and its inherently high levels of butter and sugar, there is only so much you can do.  But for this next cookie in the line up, I thought I would give it a shot.

Plain, white flour has been replaced with a combination of wholemeal (whole wheat) flour and rolled oats to add fibre.  The quantity of sugar has been squeezed down to an almost modest amount to reduce the intake of refined sugars.  And although the butter component is still relatively high (it is shortbread, after all!), an egg has been added to boost protein.

And for the taste?  Certainly not as sweet as some of its shortbread counterparts, but certainly a cookie that will satisfy, with perhaps a little less guilt!

{ Oat & wholemeal shortbread bars }  Original recipe by Julia Tuomainen @ Mélanger

* Ingredients *
150g wholemeal flour
150g rolled oats, proceedd
75g brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
150g unsalted butter
1 egg
1/2 cup ‘no added sugar’ jam (I used the ‘French’ jam in tall glass jar)

* Directions *
Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl, and add in the processed oats.  Set aside. In the bowl of a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add the egg and mix well, then add the flour mix and stir only to combine.  Spread half of the dough on the base of a prepared 18 x 27cm baking tin.  Wrap the remaining dough in plastic wrap.  Chill both for 30-60 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 180C.  Spread the base of the dough with the jam, then crumble the reamining dough on the top.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until slight brown.  Transfer to a cooling rack.

Makes approx. 12-15 cookies

It is amazing what can catch your eye.  Innocently trawling the aisles of my local supermarket recently (carefully focused on my shopping list, of course!), the line “with the tang of citrus and currants” boldly printed on a packet of plain, sweet biscuits, jumped out at me.

I paused in my thoughts, reflecting that citrus and currants is such a winning combination of flavours, but sadly, not a combination I have used recently.  So as I turned my trolley into the next aisle, I decided to use the inspiration for the next shortbread in the line up this month. (Why not?)

Back home, I extracted the necessary ingredients from the pantry.  With everything neatly on the counter ready to go, I hesitated.  Drumming my fingers, I was unsure I wanted to go down the standard shortbread cookie route.  I was keen to try something new.  Experiment a little.

I returned the plain flour, and grabbed some rice flour and tapioca flour as a replacement.  I wanted to try my hand at some gluten free shortbread.

I was a little nervous that the dough would be difficult, but on the contrary, it was a breeze to work with.  All in all, it came together very quickly.  Taste wise, these little shortbreads were deliciously buttery, soft and crumbly.  And of course, bursting with the tang of citrus and currants!

{ Gluten-free citrus currant shortbread } Original recipe by Julia Tuomainen @ Mélanger

* Ingredients *
75g rice flour
75g tapioca flour
75g corn flour
10g baking powder
120g butter
2 tsp vanilla
30g icing sugar
2 tsp lemon and orange zest
30g currants

* Directions *
Sift the flours together and set aside.  In the bowl of a mixer, cream the butter, vanilla and sugar until fluffy.  Add the flours and then stir in the zest and currants.  Turn the dough out and shape into a log that is 5 cm in diameter. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.  Preheat the oven to 180C.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Slice rounds 2cm thick. (Don’t worry if the cookie breaks, just squeeze it back together.)  Place the cookies on the baking sheets, and bake for 12-15 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.

Makes approx. 12-15 cookies

Once upon a time, there was a girl called Julia who would leisurely spend hours baking.

She would lovingly flip through food magazines, cookbooks and blogs admiring various recipes and ideas.  She would craft endless lists of cookies, cakes, breads and pastries to make.  She would happily dream of creating elaborate, and even simpler treats, knowing she would never need to consider short cuts, as time was her best friend.

But then Julia became a working mother, and time changed.  Forever.

Julia had an ‘ah-ha’ moment one day, finally realising the charm of time saving recipes.  She now seeks to create a versatile list of her own good ideas.  This custard flavoured shortbread is one such recipe in the repertoire.

After a quick measure, melt and mix of the ingredients, Julia can pop this shortbread in the oven within minutes.

What a good idea!

{ Melt ‘n’ mix custard shortbread } adapted from Australian Women’s Weekly

The original recipe calls for cornflour where I have used custard powder.  I had the idea of using custard powder after making an apple pie recipe from Ben O’Donoghue (actually his Gran’s recipe) using custard powder in the pastry.  It produces such a delicious, creamy flavour.

* Ingredients *
250g unsalted butter
35g icing/confectioners’ sugar
55g caster sugar
40g custard powder
360g plain/all purpose flour
Pinch salt

* Directions *
Melt butter over low heat, allow to cool slightly.  Sift icing sugar and custard powder into bowl, add sugar.  Add butter and beat mixture until thick and creamy.  Add sifted flour and mix well.  Press mixture into 18x28cm (7×11 inch) lamington tin, smooth over with a spatula; mark into fingers with sharp knife.  Prick each finger decoratively with fork.  Bake at 180C/350F for 25-30 minutes or until light golden.  Cut into fingers while still warm.  Cool in tin.

With scissors in tow, I popped outside to the garden and eyed off the selection of home grown herbs, courtesy of Mr Mélanger.  The ever expanding rosemary bush caught my eye.  After cutting a handful of sprigs, I started to ponder their use as I returned inside.

Back in the kitchen, with the collection still in my hands, I was still undecided how to include this fragrant herb into a shortbread.

While I mulled over the idea, I pulled a selection of dried fruits and nuts from the pantry – to find some little friends for the rosemary – and quickly settled on apricots and almonds.

As I gathered the remainder ingredients to make the shortbread, I also reached for my spice grinder.  I took one look at the sugar on the counter, and then the rosemary and immediately set to whizzing the two together.

The result was a soft pale green sugar, the consistency of icing (confectioners’) sugar.  Perfect to incorporate the flavour of rosemary without the texture.

With the crunch from the almonds, as well as the additional sweetness from the apricots, this little rosemary flavoured cookie turned out to be delicious experiment.

{ Rosemary, apricot and almond shortbread  } Original recipe by Julia Tuomainen @ Mélanger

* Ingredients *
1 ¾ cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
Leaves from ¼ sprig of fresh rosemary
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
¼ cup finely chopped dried apricots and almond flakes
1 egg

* Directions *
Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl, and add the dried fruit and nuts.  Set aside.  In a spice grinder, process the rosemary leaves with ¼ cup of the sugar until it resembles the consistency of icing sugar.  (It will be a pale green colour.)  In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter, rosemary sugar and remaining caster sugar until creamy.  Mix in the egg until combined.  Then mix in the flour mixture gently until just incorporated.  Do not over mix.  You can do this step by hand if you prefer.  Turn the dough out onto some cling film, and using the cling film, form into a log shape.  Depending on the thickness of your cookies, you will make approximately 3 logs around 20-30cm in length each.  Refrigerate the logs for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.  However, after around 30 minutes to an hour in the fridge, remove the logs and fine-tune the shape if necessary.  Then return to chill.  To bake the logs, preheat the oven to 180C.  Line a baking sheet with non-stick paper.  Slice the log into 75mm-1cm cookies.  Place the cookies on the baking sheet, leaving space between each.  Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on the size.  Be careful not to over bake.  The cookies will remain pale and feel a little soft to the touch when you remove them.  Once you have removed them from the oven, cool on a wire rack.  The cookie dough can remain in the fridge for 3 days, or can be frozen for a month.  To bake the cookies from frozen dough, do not allow the dough to defrost, simply slice and bake for a minute or two longer.

:: Plain cookie variation ::
This recipe is equally good in its most simple form.  Replace the apricots and almonds with an additional ¼ cup of flour, and simply beat the 1 cup of butter with ½ cup of unprocessed caster sugar.  Mix and bake in the same way.  Alternatively, experiment with other fruit, nut and aromatic combinations of your own!

To always have a cookie jar filled to the brim with a selection of homemade treats (….or at the very least, some pre-prepared dough in the freezer ready to bake a tray of cookies at a moment’s notice….!), is a priority in the Mélanger kitchen.

A small baked indulgence can sometimes serve to nourish and soothe, or (between you and me!) simply be enjoyed as a petite, sweet treat anytime.

Last Christmas, my baking plan included a selection of shortbread.  Flavoured.  Filled.  Fancy.

My plans changed, as some of you may remember, and my baking efforts needed to be put on hold last festive season.  But my urge to whip up a few different batches of buttery goodness did not wane.

So perhaps in (early) preparation for Christmas this year, I am going to fulfil my old baking plan and load up the kitchen with a few pounds of butter, sugar and flour for Shortbread month.

(Oh, and as it is almost half way through the month, I better get a wriggle on!)

Juggling the demands of life is a daily challenge for most people.

As Mr Mélanger continues to survive full time work obligations with writing a thesis (brave man!), and I the art of juggling full time work and the inevitable “always feeling like you are falling short” role of mum to baby Mélanger, our spare time is spread incredible thin.

The volume of collective commitments and responsibilities in our lives seems to create a massive deficit in the family time bucket.  So snatching a precious minute here and there together is a priority.  But the reality is, a weekend breakfast may be the only genuine time we get to spend together all week.

This month’s theme has reinforced my goal to create a new food tradition for my family.  But more importantly, it has become the catalyst to earmark what little time we have, and steal a few moments enjoying breakfast together on the weekend as a family.  I cannot think of a more delicious way to spend that time.

Here is a roundup of this month’s recipes.  For versatility, ease and speed, our favourite pick is the Pannukakku, the Finnish baked pancake. 

 { Wholemeal English Muffins }  Topped with homemade marmalade or jam this dish is the epitome of simple.  With a boost of wholemeal flour for added nutrition, this little recipe is a keeper.  Prepare the dough the night before, for freshly baked English Muffins in the morning.  Left overs are great to freeze for breakfast on the run. { Read more here … }

  { Clementine curd crêpes with seasonal fruits } Citrus curd makes a perfect complement to a stack of crispy, wafer thin crêpes.  Prepare a stack in advance, or freeze leftovers for a quick crêpe snack any time.  Enjoy with any endless combination of fruit.  Whatever you have on hand.  Ditch the fruit if you prefer! { Read more here … }

{ Marinated mushrooms on bacon bread toast }  The hearty bacon bread marries well with the light, fragrant flavour of the marinated mushrooms.  This dish is a bit of a twist on a childhood of ‘mushrooms on toast’.  { Read more here … }

  { Baked Apple Pancake }  This baked pancake is popular for dessert or as an accompaniment for coffee, or, as here, makes a nice main dish for breakfast or a brunch served with juice, smoked sausage and coffee (always coffee, of course!). { Read more here … }