Shortbread Cookies

Today I will give you the Shortbread Cookies recipe. They are delicious and really easy to prepare.

Ingredients (for around 45 cookies):

• 375 grams of all-purpose Flour
• 250 grams of unsalted Butter at room temperature (I used the salted one and it was really good anyway)
• 90 grams of powdered (confectioners or icing) Sugar
• A pinch of Salt (around 2 grams)

Preparation:

1. Mix in a bowl the flour, the sugar and the salt.
2. Mix the butter, with the electric mixer or by hand until it's smooth and creamy.
3. Add the flour mixture to the butter gradually until it's completely well incorporated.
4. Then, make a ball with the dough and put wrap it in clingfilm. Here there are two ways of do it depending of how you are going to make the biscuits shape.
• If you are using a cookie cutter:
  5. Wrap the dough in the ball shape and chill it for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.
  6. Then, using a rolling pin, flattened it until it is 5mm thick.
  7. Using the cookie cutter cut the cookies and place them on the prepared baking sheet, with parchment paper.
• If you are cutting "slices" of the dough with a knife:
  5. Wrap the dough in a cylinder shape and chill it for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.
  6. Then unwrap it and cut slices of around 5mm thick.
  7. Take each "cookie" and make the round shape with your fingers if you want as it's going to have one flat side (where it has being resting). Place them on the prepared, with parchment paper, baking sheet.

8. Preheat the oven to 170ºC.
9. Bake the cookies for 15 minutes approximately, or until cookies are lightly browned.
10. Cool on a wire rack.

Decoration:

• Something very simple to make your cookies look more professional in mark a fork en them (you should do this before they are cold, as soon as you can after taking them from the oven).
• You also can do Chocolate Dipped Shortbreads. To do that, place finely chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place it over a saucepan of simmering eater. Once the chocolate is melted, remove from the heat and stir with a wooden spoon until it has completely melted and is smooth and glossy. Taking one cookie at a time, dip one end of each cookie in the melted chocolate and place it on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Then leave it to cool in the fridge until the chocolate has hardened.
• Before baking them, make a hollow in the middle of the cookie and add a bit of strawberry jam, for example. Then bake as explained above.

As you can see, apart from the usual shortbread I've prepared some chocolate cookies as well.

OBSERVATIONS:
I recommend you to put the biscuits, once baked and cold, in some kitchen paper so they are not that greasy when eating them.

Torrijas (Spanish French Toast)

This is a typical Spanish sweet made during Lent but also in Christmas time. They are really easy to prepare even though, it takes some time and are delicious so, prepare yourselves to this wonderful treat.

Ingredients:

• 1 French Loaf (better from the previous day)
• 1 liter of Milk (more or less, depending on the type of bread it would absorb a different amount of liquid)
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 1 Lemon Rind (only the yellow part)
• 120gr of Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• Olive or Sunflower Oil, for frying
• Cinnamon powder
• Sugar for decorate or Honey with water

Preparation Instructions:

1. Put the milk to boil with the cinnamon stick and the lemon rind in medium heat for 10 minutes. It's possible that it needs more time, until the milk tastes lemon and cinnamon.
2. Add the sugar and let it dissolve completely. Try the milk. It should be very sweet, nearly sickly, so the bread gets enough sweet. Add more sugar if necessary.
3. Leave to cool and strain to take out the lemon rind and the cinnamon stick.
4. Meanwhile, cut the bread in thick slices, around 3cm, and put them in a deep dish.
5. Cover them with the milk until is completely soaked (this is very important and if not they will be dry). It would be enough soaked  when you take the slice of bread and it looks like an sponge.
6. Beat the eggs and coat the bread slices in them. Be careful as the bread will be very soft and it could break. Use the hands or a spoon to help you.
7. Add a lot of oil in a deep pan and when it's very hot, fry the bread slices. Be careful when turning them around (using a spoon and a slotted spoon) so they don't fall to pieces. When golden brown, put them in a dish covered with kitchen paper.
8. Turn around a couple times in kitchen paper to leave it drain all the oil possible.
9. Once they are cold enough to touch them with your hands, there are different ways to finish them:
   • Mix in a plate sugar with cinnamon powder, coat the fried bread in the mixture.
   • In a small saucepan add honey and a spoon of water in low heat and mix. It would be done when the honey is not stick to the spoon. Coat the fried bread in the honey and add cinnamon powder.
   • Make a syrup with sugar and water and coat each fried slice. Add a bit of cinnamon powder.
10. Put the bread in a dish, trying to separate them enough so they don't mash each other.

I made two, sugar and cinnamon and honey, as each person likes something different. Now you can also start preparing your own French toast in the Spanish way, not only for Easter as they are amazing for breakfast around the different seasons.

Above is a photo of how they should look inside. The inside doesn't look like bread but as a cream.

Farmhouse Apple Cake

Today I'm giving you a wonderful recipe where the main ingredient is the apples. It is really easy and you don't need special instruments or ingredients. Here it goes:

Ingredients:

• 7 tablespoons Butter - recipe said unsalted but I used it with salt and was delicious
• 1/2 cup Whole Milk
• 2 large Eggs
• 5 Golden Delicious Apples
• Juice of 1 Lemon (to avoid the apples getting brown once peeled and cut)
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 teaspoons Baking powder
• 1 cup of white Sugar
• 1/2 cup Flour

Preparation Instructions:

1. Put the milk into a cup and add the 7 tablespoons of butter into pieces. Microwave for a minute or two, until the butter is just melted. Set aside to cool.
2. Peel, core and quarter the apples. Slice them into thin slices, 0’5cm thick. Put them in a bowl with lemon juice to avoid them getting brown. Later we will need the apples, but not the lemon juice. Reserve it.
3. Preheat your oven to 200ºC. Butter a spring-form pan. You can also wrap the bottom of the pan with tin foil so it doesn’t leak (depends how liquid it’s the mixture it’s possible that it leaks a little.
4. Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl with a wire whisk (I used a fork) until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the flour, baking powder and vanilla extract and blend thoroughly. Then add the milk-butter mixture and mix it with the rest.
5. Fold in the sliced apples and pour the mixture into the spring-form pan.
6. Place the pan directly on the floor of the oven for 10 minutes and then decrease the oven temperature to 180ºC for about an 40 minutes more. Check it every ten minutes to see if it’s golden brown. When it is, cover it with kitchen foil so it doesn’t “burn”. It should be in the oven a total of 50-55 minutes.
7. When done, place the cake on a cooling rack and leave there to cool enough to handle.
8. After a while run a thin knife around the cake and remove the spring-form ring. Leave some more time to cool as if you cut it when very warm it could “break” and look a bit messy.

When serving you can also add it some vanilla ice-cream and/or cream plus some caramel, to decorate.

Everybody loved it so I highly recommend it if you are looking for some easy and different cake to prepare.