Very Fruity Bars

One of the items on the JOPCC Picture Rocks 2011 Canoe Trip were Very Fruity Bars. These were very fruity bars...and they were made twice. The first batch was placed in the freezer in Toledo and then promptly forgotten until halfway through the drive north to Grand Marais. A quick stop at the grocery store in Gaylord remedied the no-ingredients situation and Very Fruity Bars were once again on the menu for the Pictured Rocks Canoe Trip 2011. The intent was for Aurora to be able to snack on them throughout the day and therefore prevent her from becoming too hungry...well, they were gone by the end of the trip...but AHP did not participate in eating any of them! None the less, they were delicious and help up wonderfully for the duration of the camping trip.



Recipe
1 1/2 cups pitted prunes
1 1/2 cups dried apricots
2-3 cups raisins
1 cup dates

Place dried fruit in a bowl and just cover with cold water, let soak overnight.

Add to the fruit mixture:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup maple syrup
3 cups rolled oats
3 cups chopped nuts
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup sunflower seeds

Mix together. If mixture is too dry, add apple juice a little at a time until mixture comes together. Spread mixture into a greased baking sheet lined with wax paper. Preheat oven to 350F, bake for 30 minutes or until lightly brown and crisp. Cut into squares, freezes well.

Berlin

Today it is Wednesday, we travel to Berlin, a 7 hour drive, and we said goodbye to Genevieve. Jean-Baptiste never wakes before 8 if possible so we did not get a picture with him. PMB drove first to a grocery store north of Strasbourg to show us the “cockpit.”

It was in a very nice, upscale grocery and I was impressed by the organization, display of cut food and especially the enthusiasm of the 2 women who ran the operation. They were very concerned with the quality of the cuts, and the presentation of the display. It is a concept I believe can work in the US. PMB drove again and when we reached the German Autobahn, we were going 185 KPH, faster than I have ever driven before.

Germany in this area ranged from flat farmland to rolling hills, but everywhere there are windmill farms, with 12+ windmills at a time. By noon, PMB was hungry again and we stopped for lunch. He does not believe in “carry-out,” and does not eat in his car. He suggested the Goulash soup, and I corrected him when he said it was Polish. It is Hungarian! Phillou drove the remainder of the trip, at 185 to 200 KPH!!!!

inally we reached the outskirts of Berlin and slowed down. Our hotel was difficult to find, but we arrived about 7 PM and registered. The lobby is on the 5^th floor of an old building. 3 groups were waiting in queue ahead of us and it was a laborious process. The lights in the hallways are on timer and every 3 minutes or less, we waved our arms in the air to turn them on. The “receptionist,” who we decided was left over from the perestroika (look that up if you have too), missed the announcement that it was ok to go back to the Russian Motherland. It was such a complicated process to register we could hardly stop laughing. But she did say they had internet connections throughout the pension and a continental breakfast.

Olga had to tell, and show, each guest where they stayed and our imagination did not exceed reality, we had a bedroom with 2 twin beds and the bathroom was down the hall….but it was special! It had washers and dryers and we were the only one who had a key, except of course the cleaning woman who did the laundry for the pension in our bathroom. So we learned that timing is everything when it comes to taking showers.

It was late, we were tired and we had no idea where to get dinner, but left the hotel and walked 20 min to a nice area. After being rejected by the Italian restaurant we went across the road to the Greek restaurant and had a wonderful dinner.

I started with the soup of the day, a fish stew. It was a very light fish stock, with olive oil and lemon juice, small pieces of fresh fish,a rather large octopus, leeks, and a crayfish. I could live on a soup like this, and it was the best part of the dinner. John and I usually take the chef’s special of the day, after all, the chef spent most of the time perfecting this. But the main course was already sold out and so I choose Moussaka, a traditional dish that I have made myself. It was good, but I have made better. However, the highlight of the meal was a trip to the bathroom. ( see video) Espresso again and we walked back to the hotel.

Thursday morning found us on a bus to the exhibition hall. Believe it or not, for lunch there was a restaurant with an excellent selection of salads, stews and sweets. Needless to say , everyone partakes of lunch.

That evening we were invited to the dinner given by SORMAC, the Dutch company that manufactures the carrot and onion peeling equipment. It was at the top of a tall radio tower that we thought looked like a replica of the Eiffel tower. SORMAC had reserved the restaurant for their employees and sales team. An evening of good food and interesting people.

Friday morning we awoke to rain. PMB and Phillou were driving back home and we were to “see” Berlin. We had decided to take a bus tour, having no concept of the city, we thought this would be the best overview, and the next time we could visit the museums. It was a good decision. The city is large, and we were able to see the highlights in a comfortable setting. It has an amazing history.

The Brandenburg Gate, palaces, museums, the berlin wall & checkpoint Charlie from the cold war. “Hop on and Hop off” allowed us to conduct business at every Starbucks we saw.

PMB said Berlin doesn’t have Starbucks, but he is wrong, and it worked perfectly. I will return to Berlin.

Friday night found us back at our hotel, tired from walking many kilometers despite the bus. We decided to stay close by, which limited our dinner choices. It was not the best choice, but it worked. We were tired, but I tried the lamb shank stew with tomatoes, onions, feta cheese and hot peppers. Espresso and we walked around the corner to our Pension Arta.

Today is Saturday and we left at 8am for the Tegel airport., sharing a cab with another hotel guest. The airport does not have free wi-fi and each flight gate has its own security scanner. Everyone is patted down. We were in the air by noon and will be in our own bed tonight. Can’t wait, and I can’t wait to get back to lighter fare. German food is heavy on the meat.

Tuesday we left Klinganthal at 7:30 am and drove to Wilstatt to see George Kronen and his factory, at least the German factory. I met George, his son Simon, and the sales manager Frank. They demonstrated the equipment that they developed for the “cockpit.” Small lettuce spinner, blenders, food processors like the Cuisinart, cutters similar to the cutomato and even a small device to crack coconuts. Kronen now manufactures all of these items, in a factory in Cecezlovacia, rather than buy from other suppliers. After the demonstration, it was of course time for lunch. George invited us to go to a restaurant nearby, it was what I would imagine was a typical local German restaurant. Frank suggested we have the Gravlax appetizer first. It was enough for a meal, arranged on a large white square plate with only salt, pepper, and a slice of lemon, and that was all it needed. The salmon was one of the best I have had…no fishy taste. Then we had also ordered a main dish, I was trying to choose other than meat so I had a dish of spatzel with wild mushrooms in cream sauce. Large pieces of mushrooms barely sautéed with leeks. I can re-create this dish; just have to find the mushrooms.

We returned to the factory and spent the rest of the afternoon talking about opportunities with George. Left about 4 and drove 2 hours to PMB’s to drop off Phillip-Emanuel, then drove back to Strasbourg to pick up Jean-Baptiste from the train station. We walked around the city before he arrived and I was glad we were staying in the country rather than the city.

We left Strasbourg about 8 and drove the hour + to Klinganthal, dropped off Jean-Baptiste and went back into the village to eat dinner.

At this time it was about 9:30 pm, and the Bientot a Barr Les Hortensias was still servicing traditional Alsatian food. We had a salad, which in that area was a layer of thinly sliced cabbage with mache on top and a vinaigrette of very light olive oil and shallots. PMB suggested the Croute charchatieur. I chose the one for a single person, but when it arrived I could not imagine how big it would be for the plate for 2 people. There was a mound of sauerkraut surrounded by a smoked sausage, fresh sausage, fresh ham slices, and a pork cutlet. It was too much to eat, but I tasted everything and the sauerkraut was not too acidic, with a slight taste of juniper. A local white wine in a pitcher, with espresso and we were ready for bed again!

France

This is Friday night and we are actually in Germany now, but we have been so busy we haven’t had time to sit and write. And it is not easy to connect in perestroika. But we haven’t been too busy to eat!!!

Monday morning we ran/walked up the mountain trails behind PMB. It was about 38⁰. John tried to take pictures of the castle across the valley. Returned to the house and Genevieve had already left for work at her school.

Breakfast consists of 2 eggs fried, French-press coffee, toasted pain du jour with butter and jelly from the “nuns.” If you remember a few years ago Pie

rre-Michel sent us a selection of jellies made by some nuns. We considered importing them to the US, but didn’t pursue. However, they are exceptional, lemon with pieces of ginger, pear with honey. They make an ordinary breakfast special.

We worked in Pierre-Michel’s newly remodeled home office. Such a terrible place, with French doors opening to the front patio that overlooks the valley and the mountain across, total silence except for the birds. Soon our host declared it was time for “light lunch.” PMB has a special oven, a COMBI which uses both convection heat and steam to cook. He had steamed a fish on Saturday with only lemon, salt & pepper, and reheated it for us. It was simple and full of flavor. Fresh bread, a selection of cheeses and of course a small glass of wine completed the meal.

.PMB took us to a nearby supermarket to see the “Cockpit,” a concept developed by George Kronen. George was a chef back in the 70’s who decided to manufacture equipment for the fresh-cut food market in Germany. In the late 1980’s and throughout the 90’s, Bock imported George Krone’s equipment to sell in the US. George sold his business and retired. John really liked George and missed him. But George couldn't sit still and started another company that focused on small equipment for restaurants and small commissaries. The story goes, that he was in a supermarket and saw a new concept; in the middle of the fruit and vegetable area they were cutting vegetables and fruits in front of the customers. George went to the supermarket manager and told him that his company, Kronen, could make a better system…and convinced the manager to order it. So began the “cockpit.” A module unit that is designed to have all the equipment to cut pineapple, melons, crack coconuts, process pate, mayonnaise, cut vegetables for salads , sauces for vegetables, fresh orange juice, fruit juices. These are packaged and displayed around the perimeter of the glassed enclosed work area. The consumer can buy small amounts of the cut product, only what they need and no waste.

So we went to visit one installation near PMB. The grocery store was under renovation and the cockpit was not even there! So disappointing, but we were assured that we would see one before we left.

Genevieve had planned that we would be going out for dinner Monday, and we would be late for our 8 PM reservation if we did not hurry.

At 8 pm, we arrived at Aux Saisons Gourmandes to discover that we were the only patrons that evening. It is a small restaurant that can serve maybe 20 tables. We started with a glass of champagne, a bread basket and long sticks of twisted puff pastry.

After a long time spent discussing the menu we ordered dinner.

Our hostess, probably the owner, presented the “amuse-bouche,” a tiny dish that held perhaps a tablespoonful of soft scrambled eggs with small pieces of truffle mixed in. I can’t remember the last time I had a taste of truffles, but you could smell it before you tasted it.

Three of us had ordered l'entrée (remember in Europe this is the appetizer) ris de veau aux pleurotes, fois gras et truffle. This should have been the main course, as it was incredibly rich and a very generous portion. As Pierre-Michel explained, the ris de veau, is a gland in the neck of the anima which helps it assimilate milk, and fois gras is of course the liver of goose. Incredible! The pieces were lightly sauted with thin slices of truffles. It was an amazing taste.

We enjoyed a bottle of 2007 Traminer, from the Juris region of France. This was followed by my le plat principal, Rable de lapin en brochette, lentils corail, fromage blanc a la graine de moutarde torrefiee. Fillet of rabbit with a white cheese sauce and grains of mustard served over a small cake made from curried lentils, and a slice of fried polenta. With this course we drank a 2008 Crozes Hermitage, a smooth white wine with a mineral taste that was perfect for the food. The restaurant presented a plate of small cookies, meringue and crème puffs. But this was not enough….John and I had desert cheeses, three each from all around France to be followed by a plate of white chocolate mousse cake to share. All this was topped off by espresso and yet another restaurant offering of chocolate truffles with almonds. After this meal, we went home and slept in our little French bedroom. Tomorrow would be a very busy day.

Eating our Way through France and Germany

John and I barely left Detroit on Saturday during a blinding snowstorm. About an hour late, and I was fearful that we wouldn't leave at all! Arrived in Atlanta and waited only about an hour. Here is the sunset as we leave the US and the sunrise overEngland.

What is the first thing we see in the Stuttgart airport? Coffee from San Francisco.

After 2 hours we arrived in France and drove through Obernai and then to Klingenthal and finally the Brenner's home at the foot of the mountains.

We immediately celebrated with a Rose Champagne, le fois gras (a special mixture with pineapple no less) on fresh whole grain bread. Genevieve has prepared "Baeckeoffe," because she knew it was John's favorite meal. It was delicious and we enjoyed a lovely white wine. The portions were generous and a salad completed the meal....not quite though because it was followed by the cheese course. 6 cheeses from France - all different. Not finished yet! Desert was a fabulous chocolate mouse cake from a famous local Obernai bakery. Too much, all before 1 PM. Of course this was about 3am EST.

Our eating was not complete for the day. Pierre-Michel, John and I, dropped Jean-Baptiste off in Obernai and drove to Germany (Willstatt) to visit the inventor of some of our equipment, Herr Heinz Federolf. The four of us then proceeded to drive and arrived at a restaurant to have dinner at approx. 7:30PM.

Somewhere during the day I missed that we were still going to eat dinner! Probably because I was completely exhausted. The restaurant served traditional German fare (what else). John and I ordered Spaetzle with Chicken and the others ordered Spaetzle with kidneys (I was tempted). The food was delicious, the spaetzle very light. I had eaten enough for one day. Sorry no pictures of the food...I was so tired I forgot to take them. Today will be different, I promise.

More to follow....

Winter breakfast

Today, Saturday Aurora came to visit. I had a feeling she would ask for pancakes even though she would already have eaten breakfast.

So I decided to try one of the recipes from this weeks NYT column that was all about pancakes. Mark Bittman has the following. I tried, but didn't really make his recipe at all. As usual, I didn't read the recipe last night, so no cooked oatmeal, didn't have the apricots or the almonds. So in reality what I made was nothing like this.

I did use the cardamon and the regular uncooked oatmeal, and they smelled wonderful and actually were pretty light in texture. I would make these again, but I would let the batter sit longer than 15 min. and I would add the nuts for crunch.

This week I bought "blood oranges" from The Fresh Market, just as a treat. The juice is blood red, but they did not taste any different than regular oranges! Then I had leftover pork shoulder that I couldn't think of using, so I pulsed it in the Cuisinart, added pepper, salt, thyme, cayenne pepper, patted it into 4 small patties and fried it in the old iron skillet. Next time add some rosemary.

All in all it was a nice breakfast, actually quick to make. Don't tell Faithy, but Aurora likes to dip her pancakes in real maple syrup....just ask her! Then there is nothing better than building skyscrapers with Bumpa.

Cardamom-Scented Oatmeal Pancakes With Apricots and Almonds

Time: 30 minutes with cooked oatmeal

1/4 cup whole-wheat flour

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup chopped almonds

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

2 cups cooked oatmeal

1/3 cup chopped dried apricots

Vegetable or olive oil, for frying

Honey, for serving.

1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Combine the flours, oats, almonds, baking powder, cardamom and salt in a large bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and milk; stir in the cooked oatmeal and the apricots until just incorporated. Add the oatmeal mixture to the dry ingredients and stir gently; don’t overmix. The consistency should be that of thick pancake batter; add a little more milk or whole-wheat flour as needed.

3. Put a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. When a few drops of water dance on its surface, add a thin film of vegetable oil and let it become hot. Spoon out the batter, making any size pancakes you like. Cook until bubbles form on the top and pop, 2 to 3 minutes. Carefully flip the pancakes and cook until they’re browned on the other side, a couple of minutes more. You may have to rotate the cakes to cook them evenly, depending on the heat source and pan. As they finish, transfer them to a plate in the oven while you cook the remaining batter. Serve with honey.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Milk and Cookies

Oatmeal raisin cookies are some of my favorite cookies. I made some traditional oatmeal raisin the other day and Aurora hasn't stopped asking for them. Fortunately she'll also eat beets, brown rice, pears, cream of wheat and a whole variety of healthy foods. Below is the Joy of Cooking oatmeal raisin cookie recipe that I used.

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease or line 2 cookie sheets.
Whisk together:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Beat in a large bowl until well blended:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Stir in the flour mixture. Stir in:
1 cup raisins
3 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

Rise and Shine

Sunday morning isn't always the easiest morning to get up early...especially after the Packers won the late game on Saturday night! I decided to make a version of eggs over easy on toast. The toast was focaccia cut open and then toasted under the broiler in the oven, I made eggs over easy and then placed one on each of the opened faces of focaccia. It was delicious; add a little salt and pepper and you're set. Good morning!



Foccacia Recipe:
Combine and let stand and dissolve:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
(I added a pinch of sugar to this)
Add:
3 1/2 to 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon salt

Divide in half and roll each piece out to a 1/2 inch thick circle. Place onto greased baking pans. Let rise, covered with oiled plastic wrap for 1 1/2 hours. Preheat oven to 400 F. 10 minutes before baking, press the dough with your fingertips to make indentations all over the dough all over the dough. Drizzle with: 1/2 cup olive oil
Dried herbs (oregano, basil)

Molasses Cookies and Pumpkin Biscotti

So life after getting your wisdom teeth removed is pretty boring... Perhaps that is why I have posted so many recipes lately! So here are a couple more:

I made these two recipes back in Toledo. Mom and Dad were at work, so obviously I was a bit bored at home and decided to bake some things. Well of course Mom didn't have just all-purpose flour, so I had to substitute for both of these recipes. She did have self-rising flour and whole wheat flour. So for both of the recipes I used half self-rising and half whole wheat. Although with the self-rising you have to be careful because it already has some baking soda and salt in it already, so I just used a bit less baking soda then the recipes called for.

The whole wheat flour made these recipes a bit nuttier. Actually I must admit the biscotti was a kinda dry, but if you dipped it into coffee or tea they were good.

Molasses Cookies
(adapted from Simply Recipe)

Ingredients:
1 cup self-rising flour
1 1/4 cup whole wheat
1 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/3 cup for rolling cookies
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsulphered molasses

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Mix together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice together in a bowl and set aside.
3. Use an electric mixer and beat the butter for 2 minutes.
4. Add the brown sugar, and 1/2 cup granulated sugar to the butter and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes with mixer set at medium speed.
5. Add egg, vanilla extract, and molasses and beat until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula.
6. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
7. Place remaining 1/3 cup of granulated sugar in a shallow bowl. Working with 2 Tbsp of dough each time, roll dough into 1 3/4 inch balls. Roll balls in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets, spacing them 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart.
8. Bake until the outer edges of the cookies begin to set and centers are soft and puffy, about 11 to 13 minutes.
9. Cool cookies on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes before transferring them to cooling racks .

Note: do not overcook. The centers of the cookies should be somewhat soft and spongy when you take them out of the oven, otherwise they will end up hard and dry.

Pumpkin Biscotti
(adapted from Simply Recipe)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup of self-rising flour
1 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour
1 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
Pinch of ginger
Pinch of cloves
Pinch of salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup of pumpkin purée
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and spices into a large bowl.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin purée, and vanilla extract.
4. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Give it a rough stir to generally incorporate the ingredients, the dough will be crumbly.
5. Flour your hands and a clean kitchen surface and lightly knead the dough.
6. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper. Form the dough into a large log, roughly about 15-20 inches by 6-7 inches. The loaves should be relatively flat, only about 1/2 inch high.
7. Bake for 22-30 minutes at 350 F, until the center is firm to the touch. (Feel free to also form two smaller logs for cute two-bite biscotti; just cut the baking time to 18-24 minutes.)
8. Let biscotti cool for 15 minutes and then using a serrated knife cut into 1 inch wide pieces.
9. Turn the oven to 300 F and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes.
10. Cool completely (note: biscotti may be still a tad moist and chewy, so if you prefer it crisp let it sit uncovered overnight in a dry space)

Enjoy!

Toasted Walnut Biscotti

Mmmmm homemade biscotti dipped in tea or coffee. Can't get much better than that.

I found a biscotti recipe in Mom's new cookbook, The Art of Simple Food (thanks to Teddy for giving it to Mom for Christmas)! The recipe was for Almond Biscotti, but since we had no almonds and we always have the Costco-size-bag of walnuts, I used them instead. This was an easy recipe and only had a few ingredients. I think my favorite part of biscotti is you can virtually add whatever ingredient you want: walnuts, crasins, chocolate chips, cinnamon, pretty much whatever you little heart is in the mood for.

I toasted the walnuts in the oven before hand, which I have never done before. I really think that it made a difference in the taste! They were delicious.

Toasted Walnut Biscotti
(adapted from The Art of Simple Food)


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups whole walnuts (or any ingredient you want!)
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp lemon zest




Directions:
1. Toast walnuts in oven at 350 for five minutes, then cool and coarsely chop
2. In a bowl, combine flour and baking soda
3. In a separate bowl, beat together with an electric mixer the eggs and sugar until the mixture forms a ribbon (you will be able to lift it out of the bowl a few inches with the beater)
4. Gently stir in flour mixture until just incorporated
5. Then gently fold in almonds
6. Greased or line a baking sheet with parchment paper
7. Form the dough into two 3-inch wide loaves and smooth with wet hands
8. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, till lightly browned (remember this is only the initial baking)
9. Lower oven to 300
10. Let the loaves cool for 10 minutes, then cut them into 1/2-inch thick cookies
11. Bake cookies on each side for 10-12 minutes until beginning to brown, the biscotti may be a tad chewy and moist (that's for you Em) still
12. For more crispy biscotti, leave the biscotti uncovered over night in a dry place

Brown Suga Shortbread Cookies

So apparently I was wrong: shortbread cookies are not always those hard little rectangular cookies. They are usually soft and chewy?! I was unaware of this, which was apparent when I kept putting the pan back in the oven so the cookies would harden up.. wooops. They turned out just fine though. Crisis avoided. Phewwww.

I made these up in Grand Marais, not sure what inspired me. I probably was craving one of those little hard rectangular cookies. I ended up with a soft, chewy, wedge of goodness. I must admit this was not a bad mistake.

Brown Suga Shortbread Cookies
(with a twist by Sarah)

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
1 cup packed light brown suga
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup crasins (twist part 1)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (twist part 2)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F
2. Lightly grease a 9-inch round pan and set aside
3. In a large bowl cream the butter with an electric mixer
4. Add the brown suga and beat until light
5. Add the flour, salt, crasins, and walnuts. Mix just until incorporated, careful do not over mix
6. Press the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan
7. Pierce the dough all over with the tines of a fork, and press the edges decoratively with the flat side of the tines (piercing the dough allows the trapped air to escape while baking, Mom informed me of this.. probably wouldn't have done it if I hadn't asked her and found out why!)
8. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle lightly over the dough
9. Cut into 12 wedges before baking
10. Bake until set and pale golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes (note: it will still be fairly soft - do not keep putting it back in the oven thinking it will become a hard cookie. They won't!)
11. Let cool before serving, or store in an airtight container for up to 3 days and serve at room temperature (like any sweet actually stay in the house for 3 days)


I think it is kinda hard to tell from the photo above, but these shortbread cookies are fairly thick. The consistency is almost like a cookie bar. I think the addition of the crasins and walnuts made it delicious, however you can really add anything you want to them. Well, anything within reason that is!