Vanilla chai shortbread, and a haitus

This is going to be the last post for awhile, due to a conglomerate of circumstances. The next eight weeks are going to be a flurry of activity: scrambling to write a grant proposal due in early August (and all the references, protocols, documentations, and hassle that come with it), in the middle of which taking a 2-week international trip back to the ROC in mid-late July for my grandmother's 80th B-day bash, closely followed by two conferences/retreats in mid-August that run right into each other (so that I have to leave the first one early and hightail it back just in time for the second one)...

...just wake me up when it's all over. I'm going to so need a vacation after all of that.




A good friend of mine from high school was in town this weekend, and I wanted to have an edible gift for her to take home. Not only that, I wanted something that would travel well for a long road trip home and would go well with a good cup of tea, as my friend is a fiend for tea. So I whipped up a batch of the much beloved Triple Ginger Pecan Biscotti and a batch of these spicy Vanilla-Chai Shortbread Cookies.

This was my first foray into shortbread, and it won't be my last. The entire category of cookies has been percolating in the back of my mind for the better part of a year now, ever since my dad left in my possession a package of orange chocolate chip shortbread cookies from Harrod's (a gift from a friend of his). As I proceeded to eat through the package over the span of a couple of weeks, the crispy-crunchy yet crumbly texture of the cookie really grew on me. It has haunted me for months now, and I have been actively collecting shortbread recipes in hopes of recreating it one day. I know rationally that butter-based cookies that are baked longer than recommended will end up being crispy, but I irrationally have not yet had the courage to try any recipe, as most descriptions of shortbread cookies tend to focus upon the descriptors of "soft" and "tender" and "crumbly." Until now.




The only changes I made to the cookie recipe were to double the number of vanilla beans to two (I used Tahitian vanilla beans, which were kinda small), and to add approximately 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper for a little extra spicy bite. I used the recommended substitute for 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice: 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon ground clove. I baked the cookies on the longer side (about 11-12 minutes for slices approximately 1/4 inch thick) until the edges were a deep golden brown in order to get the crispy-crunchy texture I wanted. I did not frost the cookies as the recipe entails.




I was very happy with the spicy fragrance of the cookie as well as the crumbly crunchiness. As I suspected, the cookies that I pulled out prematurely were not as well browned and correspondingly more soft and tender, while the ones I baked longer until they were nice and deep brown were satisfyingly crisp and crunchy. Bingo!

These were very easy and not fussy to whip up--basically the same procedure as any simple chocolate chip cookie recipe. The only caveat is that you have to form the very soft dough using plastic wrap and let it cool in the fridge/freezer for at least 2 hours before baking. But then you have a batch of slice-and-bake cookie dough that can be called upon at any time for a last minute gift, dessert, or afternoon tea snack; and an elegant one at that.

Just be careful: a dozen of these pretties will go down very easily with a cup of tea.