A Shortbread Full of Sugar and Spice
It's a Christmastime favorite!
Last spring, I taught a class using three types of ginger—fresh, ground and candied—in three recipes. Two main-course salads were delicious, but the real star of the show was this recipe for candied ginger shortbread.
I chose the shortbread recipe to fill out the ginger theme, but I had concerns about using both ground and candied ginger in a recipe. When testing the recipe, one bite convinced me that candied ginger shortbread was a winner. Enough so to be added to my “must have” list of Christmas cookie recipes. Now add it to yours!
RECIPE: Candied Ginger Shortbread
INGREDIENTS
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup finely chopped candied ginger
Confectioners sugar
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream butter, brown sugar and the ground ginger until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the flour and salt and beat until the dough is just combined and beat in the candied ginger. Halve the dough; roll out each half 1/4-inch thick between sheets of wax paper. Freeze the dough on baking sheets for 10–15 minutes, or until it is very firm. Working with half the dough at a time, remove top sheets of wax paper and cut out cookies with a 2 1/4-inch cutter. The dough should be cold so that the cookies retain their shape. Arrange the cookies 2 inches apart on the baking sheets, bake them in batches in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes, or until they are pale golden. Transfer to cooling rack with a sheet of wax paper under it. Gather the scraps, reroll the dough, and make more cookies in the same manner. (Do not put dough in freezer unless it gets too warm to hold its shape when cut.) Let cookies cool completely and sprinkle them with sifted confectioners sugar.
Makes 30 cookies
Adapted from Epicurious.com
Nancy Lynch, a self-taught cook from a family of foodies, teaches cooking classes at Orange Tree Imports and All Through the House. diningin@madisonmagazine.com
Find more Dining In recipes here.
Email
Print
Feed
