TWD - Hungarian Shortbread

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia recipe is Hungarian Shortbread. I am not really sure what makes this Hungarian, but everything in it made it delicious. The recipe calls for two layers of sweet shortbread with a tartly tasty layer of rhubarb "jam" made with rhubarb, sugar, water, and vanilla bean squished in between.

YUM!

The recipe was pretty simple though it did require a few steps. First up, make the the jam.

While the rhubarb jam cools, then you whip up the shortbread, divide it into two balls and freeze for at least 30 minutes. I froze mine for about two hours and the consistency was just perfect!

Then, grate one dough ball into the bottom of a 9x12 pan. No need to butter the pan since the dough has a full cup (!!) of butter.

The book calls the layer the jam and the other half of the dough and bake altogether but some of the group's early birds suggested par baking the bottom dough before layering on the jam and top dough. I followed that recommendation, baking for 15 minutes before completing the layers. I was happy that I did the partial bake or the dough would have been way under done.

One great thing about this recipe is that it made quite a lot - enough to take some to work, some to monkey's school (teacher appreciation!) and have plenty to eat for dinner dessert.

Seriously, this shortbread was AMAZING! My coworkers were raving and the little one's teachers were big fans. I love how easy the recipe is to change up - you could use store bought or homemade jam of pretty much any flavor. I recommend something a little tart because the dough is quite sweet.

I highly recommend this recipe. You can find it here, or here, or buy the book here. If you'd like to see how all the other baker's fared, check out the Tuesdays with Dorie LYL post.

Until next time...bake on!