Announcement

This site will be migrating to a new address.
Please visit me at @Køkken and change your subscription to this blog to my RSS Feed

You Will Be Redirected!

Please do not leave any more messages on this blog. I will not be publishing or responding to any more comments left here. You will be automatically redirected to http://www.atkokken.com All posts have been migrated. You will be able to locate any posts by performing a quick search at my new site. Thank you.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Bourke Street Bakery's Macadamia Nut Short Bread

MS 1
MS 5
You may have already noticed that almost every popular Chinese New Year pastry we are serving for the festival is buttery, eggy and richly rich. Catch phrases such as 'soft against the tongue', 'melt in your mouth', 'short and buttery' are the usual ravings for the scrumptious treats that we are reaching for during this holiday season.

In my attempt to find something a little different to put in my cookie platter with my Pineapple Tarts, I decided to try out another recipe from what I suppose is now my favourite cookbook fom Bourke Street Bakery. This is a very buttery but rustic shortbread. Everyone should know by now the secret to an amazing shortbread is really copious amount of good butter. While most of the shortbread recipes I have come across call for creaming the butter and sugar together until a smooth whipped cream texture is obtained, this one simply requires the butter to be worked into the dry ingredients with fingertips - very much like the way short crust pastry is prepared. This method, when used with fine grain castor sugar instead of powder sugar, yields a more grainy texture hence, my earlier rustic comment. The shortness of most short bread - the melt-in-your mouth sensation- is usually achieved with the use of corn flour but BSB's recipe calls for rice flour instead.  In recent years, the Japanese have raved about using rice flour for chiffon and sponge cake to impart a light and springy texture. Hence I was rather curious when I saw this not so common ingredient in the recipe. Last but not least the addition of chopped macadamia nuts just added another dimension of marvel.

MS 2

As no liquid is used in shortbread recipes, the dough is commonly pressed compactly into a square mold, baked and cut into fingers or squares while it is slightly warm. For Chinese New Year, I have learnt that cookies are best served in small bite sized morsels. (For those who are unfamiliar with the customs of Chinese New Year, we typically house hop, visiting as many as 4 or 5 friends/ families in one day... eating from house to house. Hence food are usually best served in small bites..the smaller the better.) So instead of using a rectangular / square baking tray, I chose to make my shortbread in my long financier molds. When these are turned out, they take the form of a long slim stick. These can then be cut easily into small nuggets.

How do they taste?.. Crumbly and buttery, they melt away on the tongue like sweet nutty sand - rustic heaven!

MS 1(100)
Recipe (Macadamia Shortbread from Bourke Street Bakery)

Ingredients
175g         Unsalted butter
250g         plain flour
60g           rice flour
1tsp          baking powder
1/2 tsp      salt
125g         castor sugar
80g           Macadamia nuts, chopped. (do not use food processor as it will turn into a paste)

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Sift plain flour, rice flour,salt and baking powder together. Add castor sugar to the flour mixture and stir to combine.
3. Cut the butter into 1.5cm cubes. Rub the cold butter into (1) with finger tips until mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add chopped macadamia nuts, rubbing together to combine. and then knead to form a dough.
4. Pat the dough into a lined square tin (20cm x 20cm x 4cm). Smoothen the surface of the dough with the back of a spoon.
5. Set (4) in the fridge for 20mins to set.
6. Bake @ 180C for 30-40mins until the shortbread is light golden. Allow to cool in the tin before turning it out. Using a serrated knife, cut the shortbread while it is still slightly warm into fingers.

36 comments:

Maria @ Scandi Foodie said...

I love your photos Shirley!
I'm not going to attempt baking in this heat, but I'd love to try these one day! ;-)

Angie's Recipes said...

Bet those shortbread cookies with macadamia taste heavenly!

pigpigscorner said...

A very nice change and yes, the rice flour is an interesting addition.

La Table De Nana said...

The macadamia addition is lovely..Very similar to our shortbread recipes..but the macnuts send it over the top.
Thank you.

Zurin said...

what a lovely change of shape for shortbread! I have always loved shortbread and this sounds nice and nutty. I seldom use macadamia nuts but I think this must surely be a good addition to shortbread.

j3ss kitch3n said...

the shortbread looks divine shirley!

Wen said...

This looks so yummy and buttery! I love to try out this recipe. Thanks!

Swee San said...

yum, I love macadamia in cookies.

Allie said...

These look and sound really amazing! I'm tempted to make a batch of these for CNY too :)

dinewithleny said...

Shirley these shortbreads look so delicious. I'm really tempted to buy the bourke street bakery's cookbook, you seem to have made some great bakes from it. Hmmm...tempted tempted. Thanks for sharing. Happy Chinese New Year

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

@dinewithleny,do try to get it. Books Depository is probably the best place to get this as shipping is free.

Peggy said...

The photos are absolutely beautiful! I'm sure these are a welcome addition to your Chinese New Year platters!

Noob Cook said...

I love maca nuts. This is one CNY snack I wish to eat!

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

I always feel so secretly proud when you put up Australian related recipes! :)

tigerfish said...

I look for "melt in the mouth" goodies :) ..this looks very different for Chinese New Year.

Unknown said...

This sounds amazing! could you make this with regular flour or cake flour? i dont have rice flour... :(

Nam @ The Culinary Chronicles said...

I just LOVE Mac-Nut Shorbread cookies. Reminds me of Hawai'i :)

Happy New Year!

Xiaolu said...

Mmm "sweet nutty sand" maybe shouldn't sound so good to me considering the word "sand" but boy does it sound delicious! I guess the rice flour was a good choice. Did you notice a significant difference from cornstarch?

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

@Amrita, if u don't have rice flour, I suggest you substitute with corn flour.

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

@Xiaolu,I am not too sure about the differences. It is lighter but I would like to try with corn flour one day.

penny aka jeroxie said...

Rice flour in shortbread? have to check it out.
gong Xi Fa Cai to you!

Zoe said...

Love the petite dome shape of your shortbread. I've made this shortbread before and I must say that they are really good.

Anonymous said...

I love macadamia nuts. They even have abalone flavoured ones in Australia.

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

@Mei Teng, abalone flavored macadamia nuts? That's a weird one. Incidentally, I also bought my macadamia from Australia. $22/kg... Thought it was quite a good price :).

tracieMoo said...

These shortbread sounds very special to me. I've only had macs in my cookie. Not in shortbreads.

Wishing you and your family Happy Chinese New Year!!

Passionate About Baking said...

This looks gorgeous Shirley! I'm sure the taste is fantastic too!
Here's wishing you a happy and prosperous lunar new year!

pickyin @ LifeIsGreat said...

It's great to see a different titbit recipe to usher in Chinese New Year. I'll definitely try this one day.

Gong Xi Fah Chai Shirley! We should meet up someday. ;)

Bakericious said...

Shirley Wish you and your family a Happy Lunar New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Anh said...

Happy New year Shirley!! I wish I had access to an oven here in Hanoi to bake these :)

DG said...

Crumbly, buttery and melt in the mouth, what a perfect new year treat! Gong Xi Fa Cai, Shirley! Wishing you and your family a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Joanne said...

Mmm I have a feeling the macadamian nuts in these makes them a bit rich...but still absolutely delicious! They are one of my favorite nuts and your pictures look great!

ICook4Fun said...

Shirley, wishing you and your family Gong Xi Fa Cai. May the year of Rabbit brings you health, wealth, joy and peace.

Aimei said...

I've also seen rice flour in some Japanese bakery and the result is good so far. Macadamia bakeries always seems a luxury item to me. WOuld love to try it. :)

Happy New Year and wishing you good health! Gong Xi Fa Cai Shirley!

grub said...

i love how you didn't shape your shortbread in the traditional shape. buttery shortbread and macadamias sound lovely! glad you are using the bsb recipe book to full potential!

have a happy Chinese new yeae!! i wish for you and your family to enjoy a prosperous year of happiness, health and wealth! :) all the best for the year of the rabbit ^^

Anonymous said...

Hi, I was given a bottle of M nuts by a friend who grew them in her own backyard in Sydney! Ate a few lovely! Kept the rest in the fridge(our bad humid Malaysian weather)guess now have your recipe to try, my mum loves melt-in-the-mouth shortbread! Thanks a lot for sharing, Regards, Mrs Singh from Ipoh

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

@Mrs Singh, Glad that this recipe allows you to use your M nuts. Let me know what you think of it after you've tried it :)

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails