Stamped Citrus Shortbread Food

CITRUS SHORTBREADS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 by 12 1/2-inch baking sheet pan, line with parchment paper, and butter the paper.
• Finely grate the skin (zest) off all 3 clementines, making sure you peel only the orange skin and not the bitter white pith. Puree the zest with 1/4 cup of the sugar in a food processor until minced, about 1 to 2 minutes.
• Whisk the flour, cornstarch, and salt in a bowl. In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter with the remaining 1/2 cup sugar on medium, until light and fluffy, about 8 minutes. Add the clementine-sugar mixture and beat for another minute. While mixing on low speed, add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Do not overwork the dough. Transfer dough to prepared pan, spreading it out as evenly as possible. Cover with plastic wrap, then press and flatten using your hands over the top to smooth and even out the dough. Cut the dough into bars about 1 by 3 inches with a sharp knife, while still in the pan. Prick a decorative pattern in the shortbreads with a fork or a wooden skewer. Bake until golden, about 1 hour and 10 to 20 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes and then re-cut the bars along the previous cuts. Let cool completely on racks. Store the cookies in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks.
• Copyright (c) 2004 Television Food Network, G.P., All Rights Reserved.

STAMPED CITRUS SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Prepare the cookies: Add flour, cornstarch and salt to a medium bowl, and whisk to combine. Set aside.
• Combine butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Zest half the orange and half the lemon directly into the bowl. Reserve the lemon and orange for the glaze. Cream the butter mixture on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add vanilla and lemon extracts and beat on medium speed until well combined, scraping the bowl a few times as needed.
• Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. Scrape the bowl and fold a few times to make sure everything is well combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, flatten into a disk, and chill until firm, at least 1 hour, and up to 3 days.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut dough in half and let one piece warm up for 30 minutes if it has chilled longer than an hour. Return the other half to the refrigerator. Portion the dough into pieces roughly the size of walnuts (a scant 2 tablespoons/about 35 grams), then roll each piece into a ball between your hands. One at a time, dip a ball of dough into flour and set on work surface. If dough balls soften too much, return them to the refrigerator to firm up for a few minutes. You want it cool, but malleable. Dip cookie stamp in flour, and press down on the ball of dough until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Remove stamp. (If dough sticks to stamp, carefully peel it off. Don't worry about excess flour as you will brush it off after chilling.) Trim the edges using a 2-inch cookie cutter, and transfer dough rounds to 2 parchment- or silicone mat-lined baking sheets, arranging them about 1 1/2 inches apart. Repeat with remaining dough.
• Once you have stamped out all the cookies, knead together the scraps to make a few more. Chill in the freezer until very firm, about 10 minutes. When cold, brush off any excess flour with a dry pastry brush.
• Bake until cookies just start to turn golden underneath, 12 to 14 minutes, switching the baking sheets from front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking time.
• Make the glaze while the cookies bake: Zest the remaining skin from the reserved lemon and orange into a small bowl. Add the confectioners' sugar, butter and orange juice and whisk until smooth. If glaze is too thick, add more orange juice. If it is too thin, add more confectioners' sugar. It should be the consistency of thin custard.
• Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets, and transfer to a wire rack set over a parchment- or wax paper-lined baking sheet. Pick up a cookie, and using the back of a small spoon, spread a generous teaspoon of glaze on a cookie, letting any excess drip onto the next cookie. Repeat until all the cookies are glazed. Cool completely. Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

CITRUS SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; set aside. Beat the butter and confectioners' sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts and orange zest. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the cranberries; mixing just enough to evenly combine.
• Divide the dough into 2 equal portions, then roll into logs about 7 inches long. Wrap each log in wax paper or plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Remove wax paper, and cut the cookie dough into 1/2-inch slices. Arrange the slices on a baking sheet about 1 inch apart.
• Bake in the preheated oven until firm but not browned, about 10 minutes.

CITRUS CORNMEAL SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until creamy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla and zest. Mix until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour, 2 tablespoons cornmeal, and salt; mix until well combined, about 3 minutes. Halve dough; shape each into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place remaining 1/4 cup cornmeal on a sheet of parchment paper. Roll log in cornmeal to coat. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, and space them 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake until pale golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on sheet on a wire rack.

COOKIE STAMP SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Cream butter and sugar thoroughly.
• Add flour gradually, one cup at a time. Mix this until well blended, but do not overmix.
• Roll into one-inch balls, and place on ungreased cookie sheet.
• Stamp with warm cookie stamp.
• Bake at 325F degrees for 15 to 20 minutes (or 12-15 minutes per reviewer).

STAMPED SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, with electric mixer on low, then medium speed, beat together the butter, powdered sugar, cornstarch, sugar, salt and vanilla until light and well blended -- about 3 minutes.
• Beat or stir in flour until evenly incorporated.
• Let the dough stand for 5 minutes, or until firmed up slightly.
• Divide the dough in half, place each portion between large sheets of wax paper. roll out each poriton, 1/3" thick, check the underside of the dough and smooth out any wrinkles that form. Stack the rolled portions(paper still attached) on a baking sheet, refrigerate for 30 minutes until chilled and firm -- or freeze for 20 minutes to speed chilling.
• preheat oven to 300*.set out several baking sheets. working with one portion of dough at a time, leaving remainder chilled -- gently peel away, then pat one sheet of wax paper back into place.
• Flip the dough over, then peel off and discard the second sheet.
• Using a 2/3-3" fluted, daisy or round cutter or other size and shape.for your stamp -- cut out the cookies.
• If at any point the dough softens too much, transfer the paper and cookies to a sheet and rechill --.
• Using a spatual, carefully transfer the cookies to baking sheets, spacing 1 1/2" apart. Reroll any dough scraps. Continue cutting out the cookies until all the dough is used. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, upper third of oven for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven, using a cookie stamp, press a design into the top of each cookie. Return cookies to oven and bake for 15-20 minutes more or just tinged with color all over and fairly darker at the edges. Reverse the sheet from front to back halfway through baking to ensure even browning.transfer cookies to rack and let stand until cookies firm up. about 10 minutes. If desired, the designs stamped into the cookies can be highlighted by painting with a color wash.(see below).
• Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks or freeze up to 2 months.COLOR WASH*** Prepare a wash by adding a drop or two of desired color to a few teaspoons of water. Make as many different colored washes as desired. using a small clean artist brush, test each color on a broken cookie to get desired color -- lightly apply the wash over very fine details using small brushes.it is best to add only a light wash and keep colors in pastel range. let cookies stand 1-2 hours or completely dry -- .

CITRUS SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until light-colored and fluffy. Beat in sugar, zest, and matching extract.
• Mix together flour and salt and mix into butter mixture on low speed just until combined. Do not overmix.
• Knead a few times on a lightly floured board and roll out to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Cut into desired shapes with well-floured cookie cutters and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Prick each cookie with a fork a few times and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake shortbread for about 20 minutes, or until it just begins to brown. Cool completely on a rack. Shortbread will keep for a few weeks in an airtight container.