Coconut shortbread

I've not made coconut shortbread for a long time. On my best friend's birthday, her favorite coconut comes to mind. And it's such an incredible "coincidence" that when I just finished the shortbread and was getting ready to package it to send out, my friend called to ask me what I was doing! I was caught right then and there. What else? To give her a birthday surprise.

Recipe: Coconut shortbread (1 dozen)

Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup KAF all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup coconut powder
- 7 TB butter
- 2.5 TB white sugar
- 1.5 tp salt

Procedure:
1. Cut butter into small pieces. Beat in the sugar.
2. Mix flour coconut powder and salt.
3. Add beaten butter to dry ingredients. Cut butter into small pieces while mixing.
4. Form small balls. Place into mini muffin pan.
5. Bake at 275F for 20-30 minutes. Turn out. Place on rake and return to oven at 150F for 2 hours.

Results:
11:10am, flour, coconut powder and salt mixed:

11:11am, butter creamed with sugar:

11:17am, mixing butter with dry ingredients, cut butter into small crumbs:

11:26am, all ingredients mixed:

11:30am, shortbread dough formed, ready to bake at 275F:

11:35am, shortbread baked 5 minutes:

11:59am, shortbread baked 29 minutes:

11:59am, top:

11:59am, side:

Almond shortbread with atta flour and white sugar

Apparently, the type of sugar used can affect the spread and the color of the cookie baked. The effect of color is obvious. The spread is less so. In this experiment, I try using all white sugar in the shortbread, and see how it looks.

Recipe: Almond shortbread with atta flour and white sugar (double portion)

Ingredients:
- 1 cup almond meal
- 1 cup atta flour
- 4 TB cornstarch
- 1 tp coarse kosher salt
- 12 TB softened butter
- 5 TB white sugar
- raw almonds, soaked for 30 minutes and halved

Procedure:
1. Mix almond meal, atta flour, cornstarch, kosher salt and sugar in a large bowl.
2. Cut in the butter. Use hands to work on the dough until it's homogenous and soft.
3. Form dough balls in mini muffin pans. Top with raw almonds.
4. Bake at 250-300F for about 30 minutes.
5. Turn shortbread out to a rack. Return to oven to dry at 150F for about 1-2 hours.

Results:
3:59pm, soft dough formed:

4:08pm, soft dough scooped by a fork:

4:37pm, shortbread just out of oven:

4:42pm, shortbread placed on rack, to be returned to oven to dry at 150F:

A bite the next day:

Observations:
1. When I compare this experiment with my former ones using atta flour as well, it seems like the texture of the dough is largely determined by the softness of the butter. Shortbread made from soft dough does not seem to fall apart as easily when turned out after baking.
2. The shortbread has a crunch feel and holds reasonably good together.

After this time, I feel like experimenting whether egg can replace butter in creating the crumb of the shortbread.

Coconut atta shortbread

I am trying shortbread again. This time, I use butter that is fresh from the fridge, and I do not bother to work too much on the dough.

Recipe: Coconut shortbread

Ingredients:

- 2/3 cup Golden Temple atta flour

- 1/3 cup coconut powder

- 2 TB cornstarch

- 1/2 tp table salt

- 6 TB butter

- 2.5 TB white sugar

Procedure:

1. Mix flour, coconut powder, cornstarch, sugar and salt in a medium bowl.

2. chop butter into small pieces. 

3. Add the chopped butter by spoonful into the flour mixture and use hand to mix them together until they are just incorporated to form one ball of dough. 

4. Make small 1" balls out of the dough. Press each down into a mini-tart mold.

5. Preheat oven to 300F. Place the tart tray in the oven and bake at 300F (or slightly lower temperature such as 275F) for 20-25 minutes, until the shortbread has risen and become crispy.

6. Take the shortbread out of the mold. Place each individually on a rake and return to oven at 150F. Allow to stay warm for a few hours at this temperature, until the shortbread becomes dry. 

7. Allow to cool down to room temperature. Then store in air-tight plastic bags.

Results:

2:30pm, mixing the dough by hand:

2:42pm, final dough ready, observe its flaky dry texture:

3:15pm, dough balls ready to bake:

3:43pm, baked at 300F for about 28 minutes:

3:45pm, top of baked shortbread:

3:45pm, a bite:

Observation:
Kneading probably is the reason why the dough becomes soft in my two previous experiments with shortbread. This time I keep the handling minimal. It's not bad at all. The shortbread also does not seem to rise as much.

Pure almond meal shortbread

I am trying to bake some shortbread with almond meal alone. This is what I've got:

Recipe: Pure almond meal shortbread

Ingredients:
- 1 cup almond meal
- 4 TB butter
- 2 TB cornstarch
- 1/2 tp salt
- 2+1/2 TB white sugar
- raw almonds, soaked and sliced for topping

Procedure:
1. Mix almond meal with cornstarch and salt in a medium bowl.
2. Chop butter into small pieces. Use a fork to flake the butter until it forms a smooth paste.
3. Add the softened butter by spoonful into the flour mixture and use hand to mix them together until they are just incorporated to form one ball of dough.
4. Make small 1" balls out of the dough. Press each down into a mini-tart mold.
5. Place a slice of soaked almond on each piece of dough, pressing it down.
6. Preheat oven to 300F. Place the tart tray in the oven and bake at 300F (or slightly lower temperature such as 275F) for 20-25 minutes, until the top is lightly brown.

Results:

4:23pm, shortbread dough ready to bake:

4:54pm, shortbread baked 30 minutes:

4:55pm, shortbread collapsed tops:

4:58pm, shortbread fallen apart when turning out of the pan:

Observations:

1. In this time, the butter and the almond meal dough blend so well that I could knead the dough rigorously. The final dough is very moist and pliable.
2. The greatest surprise comes when after baking for 30 minutes, the puffy shortbread collapses! I think that's because almond meal has no gluten at all. Somehow, it just doesn't hold the puff while baking.
3. This shortbread has a pure taste of almond because no substantial amount of flour is present.
4. After the shortbread has been kept at 150F for a few hours, they harden, but remain chewy.

Remarks:
I've just found out that to make hard cookies, the important thing is to minimize kneading the dough. This can prevent air bubbles from being trapped in the dough. The puff of the cookies during baking comes from such air bubbles. So, the dough should be just incorporated, with minimal handling, if hard cookies are desired.

Almond shortbread with half almond meal

My almond shortbread cookies have been very successful so far. So I am experimenting with variations of it. In this experiment, I increase the almond meal to flour ratio to 1:1 without changing any other ingredients.

Recipe: Almond shortbread with half atta flour and half almond meal (this recipe makes double portion size)

Ingredients:
- 1 cup Trader Joe's almond meal
- 1 cup Golden Temple atta flour
- 4 TB cornstarch
- 1 tp table salt
- 12 TB butter
- 2 TB dark brown sugar
- 3 TB white sugar
- raw almonds, soaked and sliced for topping

Procedure:

1. Mix flour, almond meal, cornstarch, sugars and salt in a medium bowl.

2. chop butter into small pieces. Use a fork to soften the butter, until it forms a smooth thick paste. 

3. Add the softened butter by spoonful into the flour mixture and use hand to mix them together until they are just incorporated to form one ball of dough. 

4. Make small 1.5" balls out of the dough. Press each down into a mini-tart mold.

5. Place a slice of soaked almond on each piece of dough, pressing it down.

6. Preheat oven to 300F. Place the tart tray in the oven and bake at 300F (or slightly lower temperature such as 275F) for 20-25 minutes, until the top is lightly brown.

7. Allow to cool in oven for several hours so that the shortbread becomes crispy.

Results:

3:33pm, soft and moist final dough:

3:43pm, dough balls ready to bake:

4:03pm, shortbread baked 20 minutes:

4:18pm, top of the shortbread:

4:18pm, side of the shortbread:

Observations:

1. For some reason yet unknown to me, the dough becomes really easily incorporated in this dough. In fact,  because of such ease, I knead the dough rather rigorously for a while.
2. Eventually, the dough is so soft and pliable that I decide to chill it for a while before molding into dough balls. 

3. When just baked, the resultant shortbread seem to be softer and more puffy than my previous experiment with only 1/3 almond meal. I continue keeping the shortbread in the oven at 150F. After an hour or two, it has hardened completely. With longer low-heat baking, the shortbread also becomes darker in color.

This experiment makes me wonder how the ingredients affect the characteristic of the shortbread or cookie. Then I find some helpful resource (source: Understanding Food, Principles and Preparation, reporting results from: Fine cooking, 1998)

For puffy, soft, pale cookies:

- cake flour (low protein, acid) gives more steam and puff, ; less browning

- shortening (high melting point) gives less spread

- all brown sugar (hygroscopic, acid) gives soft and moist; less spread when used with egg

- egg gives moisture for puff; less spread with acidic ingredients

For thin, crisp cookies:

- all-purpose flour (high protein) gives browning

- butter (protein) gives more spread; browning

- baking soda (alkali) gives browning

- corn syrup (glucose) gives browning; crisp

- white sugar (sucrose) gives crip

- no egg gives no puff; more spread

Sweet coconut shortbread with atta flour

So far, I've heard plenty of good comments on the shortbread baked with atta flour. People like its high fiber. That's from the bran. This time I am making this shortbread with extra sugar for a friend who loves coconut.

Recipe: Sweet coconut shortbread

Ingredients:

- 2/3 cup Golden Temple atta flour

- 1/3 cup coconut powder

- 2 TB cornstarch

- 1/2 tp table salt

- 6 TB butter

- 5 TB white sugar

Procedure:

1. Mix flour, coconut powder, cornstarch and salt in a medium bowl.

2. chop butter into small pieces. Then mix in the white sugar. Use a fork to mix the two together while flaking the butter, until it forms a smooth thick paste. 

3. Add the softened butter by spoonful into the flour mixture and use hand to mix them together until they are just incorporated to form one ball of dough. 

4. Make small 1" balls out of the dough. Press each down into a mini-tart mold.

5. Preheat oven to 300F. Place the tart tray in the oven and bake at 300F (or slightly lower temperature such as 275F) for 20-25 minutes, until the shortbread has risen and become crispy.

6. Take the shortbread out of the mold. Place each individually on a rake and return to oven at 150F. Allow to stay warm for a few hours at this temperature, until the shortbread becomes dry. 

7. Allow to cool down to room temperature. Then store in air-tight plastic bags.

Results:

9:15am, mixture of flour, cornstarch and salt:

9:27am, butter softened with white sugar:

10:05am, final dough:

12:24pm, shortbread baked and cooled:

This shortbread recipe is highly reproducible and the adjustment of sugar does not seem to affect the result much.

Coconut shortbread with atta flour

I just discovered coconut powder. Unlike coconut flakes, the powder is like almond meal, coarsely ground. So it's a good candidate for making shortbread. So I modify my almond shortbread recipe into a coconut shortbread.

Recipe: Coconut shortbread with atta flour

Ingredients:

- 2/3 cup Golden Temple atta flour

- 1/3 cup coconut powder

- 2 TB cornstarch

- 1/2 tp table salt

- 6 TB butter

- 2+1/2 TB white sugar

Procedure:

1. Mix flour, coconut powder, cornstarch and salt in a medium bowl.

2. chop butter into small pieces. Then mix in the white sugar. Use a fork to mix the two together while flaking the butter, until it forms a smooth thick paste. 

3. Add the softened butter by spoonful into the flour mixture and use hand to mix them together until they are just incorporated to form one ball of dough. 

4. Make small 1" balls out of the dough. Press each down into a mini-tart mold.

5. Preheat oven to 300F. Place the tart tray in the oven and bake at 300F (or slightly lower temperature such as 275F) for 20-25 minutes, until the shortbread has risen and become crispy.

6. Take the shortbread out of the mold. Place each individually on a rake and return to oven at 150F. Allow to stay warm for a few hours at this temperature, until the shortbread becomes dry. 

7. Allow to cool down to room temperature. Then store in air-tight plastic bags.

Results:
4:56pm, dry ingredients (flour, cornstarch, coconut powder) mixed:

4:58pm, butter softened with white sugar:

5:03pm, initial dough being formed:

5:10pm, final dough formed:

5:12pm, texture of the final dough when pinched to form dough balls:

5:19pm, final dough shaped into balls:

5:57pm, shortbread dough started baking:

6:22pm, shortbread baked 25 minutes:

6:29pm, color of shortbread when done:

6:30pm, interior and bottom of a shortbread:

9:01pm, milky white coconut shortbread after keeping warm at 150F for 2.5 hours:

Observations:

1. This time, the dough made atta flour has a much softer texture and cohesiveness. I think it's because I have learnt to handle it better. 

2. The shortbread remains rather flaky when freshly baked. They may harden more when dried. 

3. The coconut has a very pleasant sweet aroma when baked.