Tuesday 28 February 2012

chocolate dipped shortbreads

what could be better than shortbread ? chocolate dipped shortbread. of course.

being, as they are, two of the best tasting things in the history of food, it only makes sense to bring them together...

i love the taste of shortbread, and i love the fact that it is one of the easiest things to make, and takes only a few simple ingredients (3, + salt, to be precise) ...  and chocolate dipping them proved to be no big feat either - so here goes, the result of yet another of my experiments...

shortbread itself is very easy to make - take 1 part all purpose flour (or maida in india), 1/2 part of butter, and 1/4 part of sugar. soften butter to room temperature (not melt), cream or beat together butter and sugar (light brown sugar is best, but you could just make do with normal sugar if you dont have it), add flour, a small pinch of salt, and make a soft dough... a dash of vanilla extract is optional if you want. (if you dont have real extract, just skip it, and dont bother with the imitation essences...) chill the dough in the fridge for a minimum of 30 mins, take out and cut into shapes and bake at 180C/350F for 15-20 mins, till the bottom starts becoming brown. take them out and allow to cool. (you can cut the dough into shapes and then chill them to retain their shapes better, or even make the dough a day ahead and refrigerate it, and bake it when you find time.)

now for the chocolate dipping part, melt chocolate pieces or chocolate chips in a double boiler. a double boiler could be any vessel or pan that sits on top another, with water boiling in the bottom one, the water level not actually touching the upper one. see how i managed to come up with what is likely to be the world's smallest double boiler ?  -
well, it was just perfect for the amount of chocolate i needed - about half a pack or 6 oz (abt 170 gms) of chocolate chips.
the heat from the boiling water will melt the chocolate in a few minutes. keep stirring and the chocolate chips above will transform into something glossy and beautiful like this -

take the cooled down shortbreads and dip them one by one in the melted chocolate, and allow them to set. they are an absolutely pretty sight while still glossy -

see ? all pretty right after their chocolate bath...













once the chocolate cools down and sets, its ready to eat, best as a teatime snack, but irresistible any time of course...

and that, my friends, will bring you one bagpipe's length away from scotland :) sink your teeth in, and enjoy the buttery, crumbly, goodness... !

Monday 27 February 2012

i hate to say i told you so...

... but i did, didnt i ?

as i had hoped, and said so in this post, Meryl Streep takes this year's oscar for best actress, for her performance in the Iron Lady...

looooove you  Meryl.... i sat through till the end just for you, and i knew you wouldnt let me down !

right now i am so wanting to spend a whole week watching  her movies !

Wednesday 15 February 2012

rain rain dont go away...

day before yesterday was one of those rare days when it rained uninterrupted for hours together... just the kind of day i like. i love rain...(well, as long as it doesnt end up flooding and i need to wade through knee deep water  - then me no likey.)

and when its raining in the beginning of spring, making everything look so fresh and green, so much the better...

when i looked out the window that day, it was so beautiful that i couldnt resist taking some pics ... (and i hope that the people who were walking by my window werent startled too much thinking some crazy lady was taking pics of them as they proceeded to work - having to go to work on a rainy monday morning being a bummer in itself, who wants random people pointing cameras in their paths... )