Years ago, and I mean YEARS ago, like before my kiddos were born years. I often made Martha Stewart’s dried cranberry shortbread hearts. This shortbread was a favorite at home and at the office that I worked at, coworkers would pop by often to see what treats I had and these were always gone in a flash.
I almost always used candied cherries instead of dried cranberries as they give it an extra little something. I also would cut them into hearts, but hated that I lost cookies with the trimmings, so I started to cut them into squares. Then one day I had some mini chocolate chips to use up and thought, why not? Then I cut them into rectangles instead of squares.
A few weeks ago, I wanted some cookies for a workshop I was hosting, but I didn’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen. I remembered Martha’s Shortbread and that I could whip them up in minutes. Now I can barely keep them in the house, Hubby sneaks a few, the kiddos sneak a few, then all of a sudden the tin is empty. I throw together another batch, changing it up slightly and poof! Those are gone too! Thank you Martha Stewart, for giving us quick and easy shortbread for all to enjoy!
Recipe
40 minutes
serves 24
Ingredients:
1 cup of butter, softened
3/4 cup of icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup finely chopped dried cranberries, or candied cherries, or mini chocolate chips
Instructions:
- preheat oven to 325.
- Combine butter, icing sugar, vanilla, flour and salt in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your electric mixer. Mix until all ingredients are combined.
- Add cranberries, cherries, or chocolate chips
- Press batter evenly into 8×8 or 9×9 square baking pan. Bake until just turning golden, about 20 minutes. Place pan on cooling rack until cool to the touch, about 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edge and turn shortbread out onto a cutting board. Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut into hearts or cut with a knife into squares or rectangles.
Categories:
Food,
Recipes
Tags:
Baking,
marth's shortbread,
martha stewart dried cranberry shortbread hearts,
quick shortbread,
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shortbread in a pan,
simple shortbread,
yummy shortbread
Thin Mint flavored energy bites for your kiddos or any adults that needs a little pick me up during the day.
I pulled together a batch of these energy bites for the kiddos this weekend. A quick and easy recipe that anyone, and I mean anyone, can do. I used a basic recipe I found on Pinterest and then changed it up for us with the things we like and can eat. Basically, you can make changes to these recipes based on you and your family. We don’t do nuts here (I am now allergic) and we don’t do dairy. I took out hemp seeds and added carob chips instead, you could put in a number of different seeds and goodies as you see fit.
Energy Bites for Your Kiddos – Thin Mint Flavour
20 minutes
30 servings
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup dates
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp peppermint extract
1/4 cup carob chips
Instructions:
Add ingredients to your food processor, pulse to start the blending. Once the dates have started blending in it will start to seem crumbly, continue processing, everything will start to pull together and when it is all pulling from the sides stop the processor and pinch a bit between your fingers. If it holds together nicely, you are ready to roll. Roll into 1″ balls. Chill. Enjoy.
Tags:
Baking,
energy bites,
food,
healthy choices,
healthy snack,
Recipes,
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Oh my another food post and it is so much the opposite of the last one! This one is all about Doughnuts. Yummy, delicious doughnuts. It all started two weeks ago, actually I think we were at Blissdom when we saw the tweet with the Maple Bacon doughnut, then a few more people were talking about stopping at Suzy Q’s for doughnuts. And then my friend Justin, who tweeted that first Maple Bacon, and I were going to meet for coffee, so I said, “Hey let’s grab some donuts first!” “Big mistake, big, huge” ~ Pretty Woman
I saved my calories all week, leading up to Thursday. Because Suzy Q’s is only open Thursday to Sunday, so I had to gear up for it. Then, lovely person that I am, I waited until the whole family was here to share them. I didn’t even cheat before they all got home for supper. I even made them finish their lasagna first. Then we opened the box (well I had opened it earlier so I could snap these photos, but I put them all back and didn’t lick my fingers, knowing that would lead to an empty box).
Oh My! It was a fight. We had two Froot Loop, Two Coconut (good thing Dad wasn’t here) one Sugar and one Maple Bacon. And four of us, forget the eldest he was at work, his loss (kidding we saved him some). So we did what any parent, who also wanted to taste all of them, would do we cut them in halves and shared. We all loved the Froot Loop and Coconut. We were a little iffy on the Maple Bacon, but I am thinking if we had had it fresh at breakfast with coffee, it would have been a whole different story. And the sugar one, was divine. Just the right amount of sugar to coat a very simple doughnut.
I forgot what truly fresh baked doughnuts tasted like, not the ones you get at coffee shops but true honest to goodness doughnuts, ones I remember from when I was a kid. Delicious. So if you are in town, be sure to make a date to stop in at Suzy Q’s and grab some doughnuts they are divine and I am just glad they are not within walking distance because I would be in big trouble.
*On a fun sidenote, Suzy Q’s is actually located right across the street from a house I lived in back when I was 19/20! Back then there were no funky coffee shops, just car lots and garages. It is so fun to see that neighbourhood changed and growing since I lived there… some… twent… few.. years ago.
Tags:
Food Photography,
Food Photography Ottawa,
Ottawa food,
SuzyQ,
suzyq doughts
