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Nutella Shortbread

December 15, 2010 in Food, recipe by traveleatlove | 20 comments

Yes, you read that right. The topic of today’s blog post includes an ingredient near and dear to my heart. Consumed while living abroad, traveling abroad, and now several times a week at home, Nutella is an anomaly in my pantry, a place filled, for the most part with savory or salty foods. As some of you know, I am not a huge dessert person, and sweets don’t normally excite me too much. All of that changes with Nutella. Nutella is good for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack, depending on the context of the meal.

And when I saw three of my nieces having their once a week Nutella on bagels this Sunday, I got to thinking that I needed a Nutella-related holiday recipe.

Since I have a ton of Kerrygold butter and I have made shortbread in the past, I decided to make Nutella shortbread.

As usual, I did a little Google searching for Nutella recipes and found a great one by a fellow Foodbuzz blogger, There’s Always Room for Dessert. For some reason, when I went back to the original recipe, it was scrambled on the screen, so I will do my best to walk you through it with all of the credit for the idea going to the abovementioned blogger!

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup butter

3/4 cup Nutella

a dash of vanilla

a sprinkle of salt

I started by taking the butter out of the refrigerator early in the day so that it would be soft enough to mix in with the other ingredients. Once ready to get baking, I used a bowl scraper and eventually my hands to knead together the butter, sugar, vanilla, and Nutella. I don’t have a fancy mixer, but my hands did the job just fine, and it was kind of fun!

The result was eventually a buttery, sugary dough-like substance.

To this, I slowly kneaded in the flour, a little at a time until everything was blended together. To prepare for the final step, I lightly buttered a glass pie plate and pushed the shortbread dough into the plate until it was evenly spread out.

This shortbread bakes for 45 minutes at 300 degrees, and it needs every second, even a bit more. Whatever you do, don’t touch the surface when you take the shortbread out of the oven. The concentration of butter makes it incredibly soft, and the hot sugar will burn you! Let it cool for several hours before going near it, even though the smell in the kitchen will make it almost impossible to wait!

When it was cool enough, I scored the shortbread into small pie pieces and gave it a try.

This shortbread is really good, but it was a little too sweet for me. I think the next time I might cut the sugar by half; the Nutella gives it enough sweetness and flavor without needing that extra hit of sugar.

This would be a great recipe to bring to a cookie swap or as a hostess gift in a decorative box lined with wax paper. You could always also leave the Nutella out and add other mix-ins like chocolate chips instead. The great thing about shortbread is how versatile and delicious it is!

My goal has been to try a new baking adventure each week. I think my next task is going to be an olive oil cake.

Before I head off for the day, I wanted to let you know two bits of good news: I have a brand new niece born yesterday. Her name is Nora Claire, and I can’t wait to meet her over the next couple of days! I also passed my Level 2 wine exam! Everyone thinks, haha, wine exam, must be easy, but this thing was a beast! It showed me how much I have learned and how much more I have to learn. I am happy to be off to a good start. Thanks for all of your well wishes! Smile

Are you attending any cookie swaps this season or bringing cookies to any parties? What are your favorite cookies or bars to make?

Tags: baking, cookies, dessert, flour, Food, foodbuzz, holidays, Nutella, recipe, shortbread, sugar

New Traditions with Woolwich Dairy

December 6, 2010 in Uncategorized by traveleatlove | 18 comments

Imagine my excitement when I was contacted by Casey from Kitchen Play to participate in a Sidecar Series. I love creating new recipes, trying new products, and writing about it all, so I was definitely up for the challenge.

The theme?

“New Traditions”, a focus on incorporating products from Woolwich Dairy into a holiday meal by adding something new to a traditional recipe or creating an entirely new recipe and tradition.

Woolwich Dairy cheese can be found at Whole Foods; for information on other locations, you can visit their website.

I decided to put a delicious and seasonal twist on two pretty standard holiday items, biscuits and mashed potatoes. I chose Woolwich Dairy Goat Cheddar for both recipes.

Before I finalized my recipes, I tasted a few pieces of the cheese and had to cut myself off to make sure I had enough to cook with. This goat cheddar is so unique! It is mild but has that distinct tangy goat’s milk flavor. If you like goat cheese, you will love this.

Recipe 1: Tart and Savory Cheddar Cranberry Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons cold butter, cubed
3/4 cup milk
1 cup fresh cranberries
1 cup grated Woolwich Dairy Goat Cheddar

For the biscuit base, I used a standard biscuit recipe to start.

When it came to cutting in the chunks of butter, I grated in the cheddar and worked that in, along with the butter. Right before baking, I kneaded the cranberries in, doing my best to make sure they were not falling out on the sides so that they would not scorch.

After about 12 minutes, I pulled out perfectly buttery, cheesy, biscuits with bright little bursts of sweet-tart cranberry flavor. They didn’t need butter or any additions; the cheese made them moister and more crumbly than regular biscuits.

Recipe 2: Holiday Cheddar Mash

6 small white potatoes
3 large parsnips
1 medium turnip
4 cloves garlic, peeled
handful Italian parsley, chopped
1/2 cup light cream
2 cups grated Woolwich Dairy Goat Cheddar

Cut vegetables into equal-size chunks, cover with water, and bring to a boil. When the vegetables are semi-soft, add a handful of chopped parsley and the peeled cloves of garlic.

Once all of the vegetables are soft enough to easily cut with a butter knife, drain the water, add cream and return to stovetop. Use a potato masher to mash the vegetables until smooth, then add in the cheese a cup at a time, slowly stirring it in. If desired, stream in a bit more cream to achieve a smoother consistency.

Serve with additional grated cheese and parsley.

I love this twist on classic mashed potatoes. Not only does it add a little bit of extra nutrition, but the natural spice of the turnips and parsnips really adds a kick. And the Woolwich Dairy goat cheddar makes it the best kind of comfort food, perfect for a winter meal.

I had so much fun working with Kitchen Play and Woolwich Dairy, and I am looking forward to serving both of these dishes at a holiday meal in the very near future!

Tags: cheese, cooking, Food, holidays, Kitchen Play, recipe, recipe development, traditions, Woolwich Dairy

Wintertime in Europe

December 4, 2010 in Uncategorized by traveleatlove | 22 comments

While most people seem to look forward to summer to travel, we tend to be the exact opposite. I love to stick around New England to soak in the rare months of sunshine and warmth, hydrangeas, deep blue seas, fried clams, local beers, and long evenings.

Instead our travels tend to take place in winter; by keeping to this schedule we get to enjoy crowd-free holidays that cost much less than they would in summer. And Europe is simply magical in the winter. In the past 5 years, I have traveled from the West coast of Ireland on multiple family visits, to London, Brussels, and Amsterdam for work, to Amsterdam for New Years, to Vienna, Munich, Lake Lucerne and Zurich, to Monaco and Nice, to Prague, and to Barcelona. Inspired by Rick Steves’ European Christmas, on public television this morning, I thought I would share with you just why winter is my favorite time to visit Europe.

Many European countries really do it up for Christmas and New Years. In places like Vienna, decorations transform already gorgeous cityscapes into enchanting holiday villages. Outdoor markets and the prevalence of gluwein (yes, drinking wine while shopping!) and street food like sausages, chestnuts, and pretzels, make wandering around in the cold more pleasant.

In colder parts of Europe like Vienna and Prague, a quiet blanket of snow only adds to the architectural and natural beauty, making everything seem just a little bit slower, the perfect pace for your vacation.

In the winter, all of the sights are still there! Museums and other attractions might have limited hours, but in general, places are open for business with a pleasant difference from summer, no crowds. Smile When planning a trip, you will. of course want to double check that places are open. I do know, for example, that some Champagne houses in Reims do not have winter tours.

Weather in Western Europe can be downright gorgeous! If you are from a place like Boston where our winters tend to be quite brutal, going to places like Ireland and England can be a pleasant surprise. The below photo is me running on the beach in Galway, Ireland last JANUARY! Temperatures there can be in the 50’s or, as we have experience several times, even the low 60’s in February. It is nice to step off the plane and shed the New England layers!

And again, in the winter, the natural beauty of places just shines, and you don’t have busloads of tourists elbowing you out of the way to enjoy it. Winter in Europe is a great time to blend in, to talk to people, and to get more of a handle on what everyday life is like which is my absolute favorite part of travel.

And if you really can’t stand the cold, you can always head to the warmth. Barcelona in late November had us eating lunch on the beach, watching surfers and children swimming.