This is my second attempt at making a moulded shortbread. On the bright side, I liked the flavour of this one much better than my previous attempt and the dough was also much easier to work with. Unfortunately, this one fell apart even worse than the last one when I tried to unmould it. Possibly I should have let it cool a bit more first. But I didn't want to leave it too long as my understanding is that they need to be unmoulded and cut while still at least somewhat warm. I guess I'll try going for a 30-minute, rather than a 20-minute, rest next time? Hopefully that will help. Beyond that, I'm not sure what else to do.

The first time around, I tried buttering the pan and the centre stuck and came apart. The second time I tried spraying it with cooking spray and basically the same thing happened. The first time I used the traditional 1:2:3 ratio of sugar:butter:flour. This time I used a different recipe that was closer to 2:5:5. (So, proportionally more butter and less flour than the traditional version.) Still the same result. If anything, I think it had slightly less structural integrity this time! The first time I used all wheat flour. This time I used ~25% rice flour. No joy. I do think that the rice flour improved the texture, but it didn't make it unmould any better than the first time around. So, at this point, I'm really not sure what else to try. Beyond that slightly longer cooling period, I'm pretty much out of ideas at this point. Oh well, at least I still got tasty cookies out of it!

Ugly, but tasty.

Buttery Vanilla Shortbread

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 225g unsalted butter, softened
• 30g icing (confectioners'/powedered) sugar
• 60g sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 55g rice flour
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 170g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease, oil, or spray a ceramic shortbread mould or 23cm (9") loose-bottom tart tin.
2. Beat the butter until light.
3. Sift in the icing sugar and beat until incorporated.
4. Beat in the sugar and cream until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in the vanilla.
6. Add the rice flour and salt and mix in.
7. Add the wheat flour in three additions, stirring to combine between each one.
8. Press the dough into the prepared mould or tin.
9. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 50-60 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 20-30 minutes.
11. Loosen edges and turn out onto plate or cutting board.
12. Cut into wedges and allow to finish cooling.

I used to make Dutch crunch bread a fair bit as a teen. There was a recipe in the Pillsbury cookbook that we had at home. The Dutch crunch and monkey bread recipes in there along with a few others are what got me started with bread baking. So this recipe in Cook's Country looked pleasingly nostalgic.

I was tempted to make an pan loaf, just to stick even closer to my childhood experience. But, in the end, I figured it'd probably introduce fewer complications if I just made rolls like the recipe said. That way I wouldn't have to adjust the amount of topping or baking time or anything.

I found the inclusion of yeast in the rice flour topping interesting. I don't recall the Pillsbury version using yeast there; only the main dough was yeasted. Everything else was very familiar though. Although the topping did turn out somewhat runnier than I remember. That said, it seemed to be runnier than the recipe authors were expecting as well. I didn't need to brush it to spread it out, it just dripped and ran on its own. Possibly this was due to using brown, rather than white, rice flour. Given how runny it was, I think I'd probably reduce the water called for slightly next time. The original recipe called for "1/2 c. + 2 Tbsp." I'll try leaving out the 2 Tbsp. next time and see how it goes.

Dutch Crunch Rolls

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country April/May 2016

Ingredients

Dough

• 495g all-purpose flour
• 4 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 1/4 tsp. instant (rapid-rise) yeast
• 1 1/4 c. warm water
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Topping

• 114g brown rice flour
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 1/4 tsp. instant (rapid-rise) yeast
• 1/2 c. warm water
• 2 Tbsp. oil

Directions

1. Combine flour, sugar, salt, and yeast for the dough.
2. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the water and melted butter.
3. Gradually incorporate dry ingredients into wet, mixing from the centre outward.
4. Cover and let rest for ~5 minutes.
5. Turn out onto very lightly flour surface and knead for 5-10 minutes.
6. Cover and let rest for 5 more minutes.
7. Knead a for a few more minutes, until dough is smooth and stretchy.
8. Shape into a ball and place in a covered bowl to rise for ~45 minutes.
9. Dough is ready to knock back when it does not return a wet fingerprint. (Press wet finger ~1cm into dough and see if it springs back/fills in.)
10. Knock dough back and knead a few strokes.
11. Divide into 8 equal portions.
12. Round each portion, cover, and rest for 5-10 minutes.
13. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
14. Working with one portion at a time, flip smooth-side-down and press flat. Then fold top edge down to middle and press. Fold bottom edge up to middle and press.¹ Now bring the new top and bottom edges up to meet in the middle and pinch together. Flip seam-side-down and place on prepared baking sheet.
15. Cover and let rise for ~20 minutes.
16. After 20 minutes of rising, prepare the topping by whisking all of the topping ingredients together in a bowl.
17. Cover the topping and let rise for ~20 minutes.
18. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
19. Spoon 2 Tbsp. of topping onto each bun. Use a pastry brush if necessary to spread the topping evenly over the bun.
20. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 20-25 minutes, turning halfway through baking.
21. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

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¹ Top edge and bottom edge should meet in the middle, but not overlap. This is not a "letter fold". ^Back

Rice Pudding (Early Modern -- with Flour)

I was craving dessert last night but I didn't want more tiramisu and we didn't have anything else easily to hand. At first I was thinking of making some sort of hot chocolate but, as usual, I wandered off on a bit of a tangent. I went from hot chocolate to possets to pudding and eventually settled on rice pudding as an appropriate midnight snack.

I found that Cooking in the Archives had done a couple of rice pudding recipes. One that pretty closely resembles a lot of the modern European rice puddings that I've seen: rice, cream, sugar, cinnamon, egg... The only major differences were that the early modern recipe contained no vanilla (which I would normally expect to see in a modern rice pudding) and did contain a few ingredients that would now be considered unusual, exotic, or down-right weird: breadcrumbs, rosewater, bone marrow, and ambergris.

That recipe sounded pretty interesting -- and I probably will give it a try at some point (minus the ambergris) -- but for now I focused my attention on the other rice pudding recipe. It looked very different from any modern rice pudding recipes I've seen (European or otherwise). Mostly because it called for rice flour rather than whole rice grains. It also called for a lot more eggs and butter than I'm used to.

In the end it came out almost like a flan (minus the caramel, of course). It was wobbly and custardy. Fairly bland, lightly sweet, and went very well with a quick mixed berry compote.

Rice (Flour) Pudding

From Cooking in the Archives

Original Recipe

To Make a Rice Pudding

Take six ounces of rice flower a quart of milk set them over y^e fire & stir them well together while they are thick, then put in half pound of Butter six eggs one nutmeg sweeten to y^r tast, Butter y^r Dish that you bake it in /

Modern Recipe

(Halved from original)

Ingredients

• 85g rice flour
• 2 c. whole (3.25%) milk
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 3 eggs, beaten

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a 23cm (9") pie plate or similar baking dish. (one that won't leak!)
2. Combine the rice flour and milk and cook, stirring constantly, over medium-low heat. I chose to add my sugar at this point as well rather than waiting for the mixture to thicken. Either way is fine.
3. It will seem like nothing's happening for a while and then the mixture should thicken quite suddenly all at once. Remove from heat.
4. Mix in the butter. I chose to do this 1 Tbsp. at a time.
5. Mix in the nutmeg.
6. Mix in the eggs. (I mixed them in one at a time.)
7. Pour the mixture into the prepred pie plate and bake for 40 minutes. It will still seem very jiggly and wobbly, but it should be nicely browned on top.
8. Allow to cool (I definite did not follow this instruction), slice, and serve with your choice of toppings: fresh fruit, jam, compote, whipped cream, etc.

This is basically a paneer curry. It's just that instead of pressing the curds into a solid block and then cutting it into cubes as you'd see for most paneer curries, you make little cheese dumplings (chenna) instead. Once the curds are drained, you mix in some flour and a tiny bit of water and shape them into little balls. These dumplings are then simmered in a savoury tomato-spinach sauce.

Chenna Saag

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

Chenna

• 1L half-and-half (10% cream) or 2L whole (3.25%) milk
• 3-4 Tbsp. vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. rice flour

Sauce

• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (400mL) can diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. ground Deggi chilies¹
• 1 tsp. Dhania-Jeera Masala
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 450g frozen chopped spinach
• 1 c. water

Directions

Chenna

1. Bring the cream/milk to a boil.
2. Immediately remove from heat and stir in vinegar 1 Tbsp. at a time. Keep adding vinegar until the curds have completely separated from the whey. The whey should be clear, not cloudy.
3. Line a colander with butter muslin or a triple layer of cheesecloth. Pour the curds and whey into the lined colander to drain the curds. Set aside to drain for an hour.
4. Dump the curds out of the cheesecloth and sprinkle with the rice flour.
5. Wet your hands and mix the curds to form a crumbly "dough".
6. Form the dough into walnut-sized balls and set aside.

Sauce

1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the cumin seeds and sizzle for 10-15 seconds.
3. Add onion, ginger paste, and garlic and stiry-fry for ~5 minutes.
4. Add tomatoes, salt, ground chilies, dhania-jeera masala, and turmeric and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for ~5 minutes.
5. Add the spinach and cool until fully thawed.
6. Add water.
7. Place chenna in the sauce.
8. Carefully spoon some sauce over the chenna.
9. Lower heat to medium. Simmer, uncovered, basting the chenna without stirring, for 15-20 minutes.

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¹ If Deggi chilies aren't available, then a 1:1 ratio of ground cayenne and sweet paprika makes a reasonable substitute. ^Back