Merry Christmas!!!

December 26, 2012

Merry Christmas!!!

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

I'm spent but I thought I'd throw up a little blog about a cherry shortbread dessert that was a big hit yesterday (and post some pictures of the furry little cuz, Marco. Duh. Errybody's got time for cat pictures!).

Yummers (Part of a cherry shortbread dessert).

I actually adapted this recipe from Bon Appetit that does a version with cranberries (I made one following their recipe and that turned out great too - the store just ran out of cranberries when I wanted to make it again, so I opted for frozen sweet cherries instead. A very happy accident!).

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick chilled butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 bag (16 ounces) frozen sweet cherries, thawed

1/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice

1 teaspoon grated grapefruit zest

splash of grand marnier (optional, but recommended)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8x8x2-inch pan with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two opposite sides (I broke all the rules and just buttered the bottom of a tart dish and it worked just as well).

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and salt. Using fingertips, rub butter into dry ingredients until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

Transfer to prepared pan; press evenly onto bottom of pan. Prick dough all over with a fork.

Bake shortbread until cooked through and pale golden, 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan.

Bring remaining 1/2 cup sugar, cranberries, and grapefruit juice to simmer in a small saucepan and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is syrupy, about 8 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool.

Spread cooled cherry filling over shortbread. Scatter zest over. Use paper overhang, lift shortbread from pan and transfer to a cutting board to cut shortbread.

Enjoy!

Of course, it's best to serve this with a giant scoop of ice cream. Actually, I'd double the recipe for the cherry topping and keep it in the cooler for impromptu ice cream topper, a la cherries jubilee minus the fire and burnt eyebrows.