I am not a
baker.
Many people
are surprised by this, as I love to cook. That said, I rarely cook with a
recipe, and even when I have a recipe, I usually substitute ingredients,
eyeball measurements and see what happens.
I’ve tried
that before with baking. It did NOT work.
As you all
know, I’m a super-proud Gay Lea Ambassador and this month, was given a
challenge to – wait for it – BAKE my favourite shortbread recipe!
And while I’m
always up for a challenge, I had to phone a friend, so to speak, and seek the
advice of the best baker in my family – my Mother-in-Law – to shed her baking
advice and recipe for her shortbread balls, which happen to be my
favourite when she does her holiday baking.
Here’s the
recipe:
1 ¾ cups cake
and pastry flour
1 cup finely
chopped pecans
¾ cup Gay Lea
Butter
½ cup icing
sugar
¼ teaspoon
salt
¾ teaspoon
vanilla
2 teaspoons
cold water
First, you
combine the flour and pecans and mix well. In a separate bowl, cream the
butter. Gradually add sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Add
salt, vanilla and water and blend well. Gradually stir in flour mixture. Shape
into ¾-inch balls. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 325° for 20 minutes
or until edges just begin to brown. Cool thoroughly.
And they
actually taste good! You gotta love a good, easy shortbread recipe. So buttery
and delicious. I think I may even try to make them again this Christmas when I
make some visits! Can you imagine! Me, a baker?
I’m not sure
they taste as good as my Mother-in-Law’s, but I’m sure she’s proud of me for
trying!
Truth: there
is actually a chocolate glaze that you can add to the cookies once they’ve
cooled, but my MIL said not to do it. Even bakers alter recipes. There’s hope
still for me.
In honour of
World Kindness Day last week (November 13th), I will be sharing my
shortbread cookies with all my friends at work. Who doesn’t love baked goods in
the office?
If you don’t work with me, you don’t
lose out! Gay Lea is holding a Shortbread Bliss Contest until December 31st,
2013. To enter the contest you need to visit the Gay Lea Facebook Page and LIKE their page. You can win daily prizes, weekly Kitchen-Aid mixers and
the Grand Prize is a NEW Kitchen! You can do a LOT of baking in there.
AND you can win more great prizes from
Gay Lea right here. Simply Suppa is happy to be providing 2 reader giveaways.
Giveaway
#1
Fill out the Rafflecopter immediately
below to win a Gay Lea “Our Table: Shared Meals” cookbook. It’s a compilation
of popular recipes and includes everything from breakfast to dessert. Makes a
good holiday gift too!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
And if that wasn’t enough, how would you
like to win a KitchenAid® Classic Series Stand Mixer? Perfect for shortbread
baking! You know the deal, enter the Rafflecopter below – you can enter the
same contest on any Ambassador’s blog, but note only ONE grand-prize winner
will be chosen (one winner across all 15 blogs).
a Rafflecopter giveaway Good Luck to you all and happy baking with Gay Lea!
“Disclosure: I am part of the Gay Lea Blogger Campaign with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.”
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