Rosemary-Lavender Shortbread

One day, on an impulse, I bought a small bag of culinary lavender.  Then I wondered what to do with it.  I had always associated lavender with soap and potpourri, and imagined lavender ice cream or lavender baked goods would taste soapy.  I'm glad to report this shortbread is not at all soapy.  I'd call it herbal and lightly floral, and I wasn't prepared for the glowing reaction it got.  See, I liked the cookies well enough, but I was dreaming of chocolate ice cream, or summery peach cobbler.  And I didn't want a load of buttery shortbread around the house, so I brought the cookies to work.  Their unusual flavor combination, cute teapot shapes, and pretty sprigs got plenty of attention, and lots of compliments.

Squares of shortbread dough flecked with rosemary and lavender. Press some rosemary sprigs into some
of the shortbread for a decorative touch. Then everything gets a dusting of sugar.

The shortbread is sandy and buttery, and accented with honey along with the lavender and rosemary.  Make sure you use dried culinary lavender; the leaves in the sachet that scents your drawer might have chemicals on them.  I adapted this recipe from Epicurious to include the lavender.  I also altered the method to make lots of cutout cookies that would hold their shape when handled, as opposed to two simple rounds scored into triangles.

These are perfect for a fancy tea, but since the temperature hit 90 yesterday I made a strawberry oolong iced tea steeped with lavender.  For a bit of color, splash in about a teaspoon of cranberry juice.  Pour over ice, cool down, and have a cookie.

Pecan Bars

I spent almost my whole life thinking I didn't like pecan pie.  I love pies filled with fruit, or chocolate cream, or pumpkin, but nuts in gooey caramel?  Didn't sound like my thing.  But when I finally tasted pecan pie for the first time last year, I was hooked.  I learned the error of my ways.  The deep, smooth sugary filling combined with the pecans was irresistible.

Don't bother decorating the top with nuts. They fell off after baking, even though I pushed them into the filling.

When I got the idea to try pecan pie in bar form, this Barefoot Contessa recipe popped up first in my online search and had hundreds of raving reviews.  But the endorsements also had complaints about messes in the oven, the cost, and the fat.  Nine sticks combined for the shortbread and filling??!  And I wish someone had spelled out the cost.  The pecans were about $15 a pound and two pounds were needed, but thankfully I found them for $8 a pound in the bulk bin at another store.  The many positive reviewers said the cost was worth it -- or maybe just as a splurge for the holidays.

To avoid  the spillage and mess that people described, I used two taller baking pans instead -- 10½ by 7 by 2 inches, and 12¾ by 8 by 3 inches.  The baking times stay about the same.  My sheet pans did not have the required 1 inch in height, and I correctly estimated that 1 inch could not possibly hold all the bubbling filling.  I also lined the pans with foil and then parchment.

Clockwise from top left: Woman in a hoopskirt outside Fort Warren on Georges Island; girls manning the fort walls; a powder magazine; these hobbit hole-looking structures opened out to a view of the ocean on the other side.

So, that health factor?  There's a healthier chocolate pecan bar recipe from The New York Times.  I wasn't happy with a recipe I tried from the column once and figured if you're going to have a pecan bar, have a pecan bar -- and then give away most of them.  I brought them to my book club's outing to Fort Warren at Georges Island.  The Civil War fort matched up with our read for the month, Gone With the Wind, and the pecan bars seemed to fit the southern theme.  My friends loved them, and were amazed at the weight of each square.  It was like carrying a brick.  I enjoyed them also, but I thought they tasted more like toffee bars and less like pecan pie.  It wasn't quite what I had been looking for, and it was also very rich.  Maybe pecan pie is next on my baking list.

"Fancy Twix," or Salted Caramel Chocolate Shortbread Bars

"Would I like a fancy, homemade version of a Twix?"  I asked Joe recently.  He said yes.  See, I'm not big on candy or candy bars.  My friend Charmie used to say I like "old people candy" -- Werther's and Raisinets.  Hard candies, gummies, and nougat don't do it for me.  I don't even know what makes a Twix different from a Snickers or Milky Way.  But when I saw this recipe at Tracey's Culinary Adventures, I thought the shortbread layered with caramel and chocolate looked pretty damn good.

If Twix tasted like this, I might be more of a candy bar fan.  Wow.  The shortbread is nice and crumbly when you bite into it, the caramel is smooth and rich, and the bittersweet chocolate topped with coarse salt is my favorite.  Don't skip the salt, which transforms the flavors of chocolate and caramel.  Tracey mentioned in her post that she halved the amount of caramel and thought the result was perfect -- I agree, but Joe wanted more caramel.  Depends on how much of a caramel fan you are.  Also, I like mine straight from the fridge because the bars get a little soft at room temperature.

This wasn't difficult at all to make, though you have to make the three components in stages and give them time to set.  I've done trickier candy-making, like homemade marshmallows.  If there's a deterrent to making this again, it's that a pound of butter -- that's right, four sticks -- goes into this recipe.  Two for the shortbread, one for the caramel layer, and one for the chocolate.  You can halve the recipe, but what would you do with the other half a can of sweetened condensed milk?  This will be a repeat in my kitchen, but we'll be giving a bunch away like we did this time.  Spread the love, and the calories.

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