Shortbread

There is a comforting plainness to shortbread. It's a simple, three-four ingredient recipe, quick to make, and easy to eat.

Plus, it has the added bonus having dough that is completely safe for a kid to eat off a spoon.

So, celebrate Scotland and make some shortbread!

1. Cream two sticks of butter. I'll wait.

2. Mix together 2 cups of AP flour, 1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. (Skip the salt if you used salted butter in step one.)

3. Mix the dry ingredients into the butter, and you'll get a fairly thick dough.

4. Smoosh the dough into a 9x9 pan. (Since the dough is about 28.5% butter, you don't have to grease the pan.)

5. Here is the complicated part: poke it with a fork!

6. Bake it in a 325 degree oven for about 25 minutes.

7. Taste the fork!

Mad Men Party!

Well, maybe not a full party. . .

So we watched Mad Men last night, and invited over our sad, cable-less parents. Well, my wife's parents, but that's neither here nor there.

Anywho, for our somewhat-impromptu viewing party, the wife and I supplied the following:

Pigs in Blankets
1. Since this is an impromptu party, there is no time to make sausages or croissant dough. So we had to buy a package of "Little Smokies" sausages (Cocktail wieners will do, but these are better.), and one of those tubes of 35% flakier croissant dough.

2. We assembled them ahead of time. To do this: unroll the croissant dough and cut smaller to fit the tiny sausages. Depending on which size you bought, you should be able to get 3-5 portions from each croissant. Wrap the dough around the middle, leaving a little overhang on each side. Place on a seasoned cookie sheet.

3. You can throw them in the fridge like this until guests arrive. When ready, throw them into a 350 degree oven until the croissant dough is golden brown. (About 10 minutes.)

4. Serve with a whole grain mustard.


Martini
1. Pour into a mixing glass over ice 3oz of a good gin and 1/4teaspoon of dry vermouth.

2. Stir.

3. Strain into a chilled martini glass.

4. Throw a cocktail olive in there.

Vodka and shaking are for brutes. (I'm looking at you Mr. Bond.)

Then again, I'm a teetotaler, so this is all theoretical.



Coconut Macaroons
You shouldn't be friends with people who don't like coconut. They are not to be trusted.

1. In a large bowl combine 5 cups Angel Flake sweetened coconut, 2/3 cups sugar,  6 tablespoons flour and  a pinch of salt. (If you don't have sweetened coconut, you can use moist shredded coconut with sweetened condensed milk. A little more than a cup or so should work.) Mix this until uniform.


2. Mix in 4 egg whites and a teaspoon of almond extract. (If you don't have almond, you can use vanilla, but you might want to use up to 2 teaspoons.

3. Mix until uniform.

4. With a melon baller (or a tablespoon if you don't have such fancy things) drop balls of dough onto a greased and floured cookie sheet.

5. Bake at 325 for up to 20 minutes. The edges will become golden when they are perfect.

6. Take them off the sheets right away and cool them on a wire rack.

That's it. It's easy and requires few ingredients. After they are cooled you can roll them in sifted confectioner's sugar or dip them halfway into some melted chocolate. (If you do the chocolate, you have to chill them in order for the chocolate to set.

If you want chocolate throughout, that's a different recipe. You should buy unsweetened coconut, heat the sweetened condensed milk, throw a couple of tablespoons of cocoa in there, and let that cool before mixing it into the coconut.