Dammit

Oh I just give up.  I can't make shortbread.  I had yet another try yesterday, this time using a recipe which follows something close to the classic 3-2-1 proportions but then adds a little almond essences and a little vanilla essence.  

I love the rubbing in method, finding it genuinely relaxing and purposeful.  I make mean pastry, which I put down to the fact that I have Raynaud's so my hands are always cold.  It occurs to me that this may lie at the heart of my shortbread problem.  Every time I stare at the contents of the bowl wondering how I will get the breadcrumb-like mix to become a kneadable dough without waving a magic wand.  perhaps if I had warmer hands it would loosen up the butter a bit and help it to gel.  I have tried recipes where you add liquid at this stage but the finished result just isn't short enough and loses the melt in the mouth flavour.

By my usual standards, yesterday was not actually a bad attempt.  I didn't come close to kneading it till smooth but did manage to shove it into a mass which I was then able to flatten and shape slightly on the baking tray.  Not a rolling out so much as a nudging with the knuckles.  

The end result wasn't bad.  The almond essence worked really well and it was pretty short, although unfortunately it did not cook quite through in the middle - another minute and a half would have done it.  But certainly worth a revisit.

I also had a bash at ginger nut biscuits.  This was a hugely satisfying recipe of the atmost simplicity - melt some butter and syrup together in a pan while sifting flour, cinnamon, ginger and bicarb together.  Mix it together, roll into small balls and flatten slightly on the baking tray.  15 minutes and they're done.  Sadly by this point I was up to my elbows in the rubbing in for the shortbread and, as usual, drifting away in my thoughts.

Still, on the plus side, although this particular batch had the slightly bitter taste of just-burnt baking, the kitchen still has a heavenly gingery smell and I'll be returning to the scene of the crime to make them properly tomorrow.  This time without losing track.

Demoralised by two failures in a row - one undercooked and one overcooked, perfectly edible but just not right, I bashed out a batch of failsafe chocolate chip muffins.  These are from one of those cookbooks that pre-dates the wide availability of free range, organic eggs and the rich flavour these produce was a little overpowering for the recipe, but the muffins were still light as a feather and have been disappearing at an alarming speed from the tin.  Which is good as I'll be needing that space for ginger nuts this time tomorrow.

And I really must try the shortbread just one more time with the extra 90 seconds of baking time...