Mike..........thanks for the recipe!

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

Ha! I'm glad I'm not the only one whose kid is afraid when Mom starts cooking!  :apls:

Wuh oh. And I was just saying that old flour wouldn't kill anyone.  Unfortunately I already gave them to my new found cousins...come to think of it I haven't heard from them since!  :thinik:

[Mike]

I was going to do a batch of Mike's shortbread too but I used up the entire tub of butter-like stuff I used for Roberta's cookies so I will do a batch of shortbread for Christmas.

Butter-like stuff?????  Best use butter.  It may be higher in fat, but has no trans-fat or plastics. And don't eat 11 pieces at a sitting....

[PattyInAK]

Butter-like stuff?????  Best use butter.  It may be higher in fat, but has no trans-fat or plastics. And don't eat 11 pieces at a sitting....

LOL!!!!!!!   
BUTTER-LIKE STUFF indeed!  I was thinking the same thing Mike.
DD, spend the extra buck and get the real stuff. 
And replace that flour!

[Frankys_mom]

Poor DeeDee!  Don't feel bad, I tried to make those "break and bake" cookies (from the chilled/pre-made cookie dough) for our "cookie day" at work.
"Tried" as in ... BURNED two batches to a crisp.... gave up and ate some of the leftover raw dough.
No food poisoning yet!  :thumb:
Dawn

[PattyInAK]

We love to beat DD up in the baking department.  WELL!!!............she is such a fantastic, talented artist, its good to know that she has SOME faults!!!  She knows we love her!

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

LOL there is a reason I ended up so close to fast food joints! Thank goodness it's easier to find healthier eats there or I'd be sunk!

Ha with the expiration date of the last bag of flour, I'll bet I bought it last year to make Christmas cookies with too! And that was the only time I used it....I will go buy a fresh bag now and you watch, next Christmas it will have just expired and I'll have to go get another one....turns into pretty expensive cookies LOL.

I think I bought the butter-like stuff the same time as the flour because it was long overdue too!

All right...sigh....looks like I will have to go stock up on fresh ingredients. Including real butter!  Does sugar go bad?

Hey Dawn I'm glad I'm not alone! (I knew I wasn't lol). What really gripes me is every time I attempt something like this I will say sternly to myself "now just stand RIGHT HERE and watch it so it doesn't burn!" No longer is the thought out of my head, I am wandering off to wash a dish or cuddle Hallie or something and whoosh....up in smoke!

[Roberta]

Dee Dee, we love you, you talented junk food addict. Patty I have the same problem trying to get people to use butter, cannot get through that it needs animal fat etc.
Roberta
ps tip shortbread and cookies can be made all year round

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

shortbread and cookies can be made all year round

LOL but I need a whole year to rest up from the one batch I make before each Christmas! 

That the thing about cooking for one...you have to buy more than you'll ever use, and not only does it deter you from cooking that much more, but it gives you an awful darn good excuse too!  :thumb:

I am sure my poor cousins have cracked their teeth on the cookies I tried to make like yours Roberta (I'm sure, done right they are delicious!! They tasted pretty good when they were warm, it was just after they cooled they turned into tiny boulders. I can turn the best of recipes into something scary!)

[PattyInAK]

Dee Dee, we love you, you talented junk food addict. Patty I have the same problem trying to get people to use butter, cannot get through that it needs animal fat etc.
Roberta
ps tip shortbread and cookies can be made all year round

You are right, Roberta, some things need real butter, no substitutions.  Trying to make some things "healthy" just ruins them.  Most people don't know that LARD makes the best, most flakey, pie crust!
People who try to make things healthy really gripe me sometime.  I work with someone who thinks honey much, much better than sugar.  If there is a difference, its miniscule.  She claims its "natural" and thus better for you.  Well HELLO!!! Sugar is a natural too. 

[Mike]

They tasted pretty good when they were warm, it was just after they cooled they turned into tiny boulders.

These are what the Highlanders used to repel the English ...

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

These are what the Highlanders used to repel the English ...

Ah! So that is their history!  I would have been a boon to the Highlanders! 

I know Patty, I have heard people say that too...I wonder how that idea ever got started that honey was more "natural" than sugar? (probably from the honey people LOL)
It's better to not know ingredients sometimes or we wouldn't eat anything!

[Brekkesmom]

Wotcher mean, DD?  With a name like Murry, I didna think you were anything else!!!    You probably inherited that hard-as-a-rock Scotch shortbread gene!  I come from a long line of Adairs and Inmons, among other Scots names!  (I'm sure Delia's Ron and I are related somewhere along the family trees!)

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

LOL Julia, wouldn't that be something?

Our last name isn't really Murry...it's Dunlap. Looooong story (Grandfather killed a guy, went on the run, changed his name every few months, mispelled "Murry" which is why we don't have an "a" in it, this is how he spelled it the month he died but my Dad and his siblings all have a different spelling of "Murry" on their birth certificates) but I'm 3/4 german and 1/4 Irish. Must be some bad cooks in the mix back there! Although I don't recall anyone in my family being a bad cook, my Mom was a wonderful cook as was my Dad, sister, brothers...I must have gotten a recessive gene from way back somewhere lol.

[Brekkesmom]

Now that is an interesting story!  I am 1/4 Irish, 1/4 Scots, 1/4 Welsh, 5/32 English, and 3/32 German, if we have all the fractions figured out correctly.  My Irish ancestors had names like Hart, and the Welsh were Browns - the gate to the family castle still stands - I have a photo of it taken by a fellow teacher who went on a long Celtic vacation, and then we found out it was the only thing left of the builiding!

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

That is so cool! Isn't it fascinating to learn about your ancestors. My Dad's aunt who was a nun at the Mt Angel Monestary in Oregon and died the year before I was born, was an artist. She painted their ceiling and murals on the wall, and I was just sent these two that she had done in the early 1900's. I was amazed at how good she was, there were no art lessons back then especially for a nun!

[Teresa]

Those are incredible, Dee Dee. It is so wonderful that you were able to get the pictures of the work she had done. I can see where the artist in you came from.
Thought you might like to know, I have just finished my first photo class dealing with working in the darkroom. I truly felt like I was going backwards after having taken a couple of digital photography classes. It was really interesting and lots of fun, but I can't believe how time-intensive it can be. I did, however, come out with a couple of prints of downtown Greenville I can frame for Meghan for Christmas (so she doesn't forget where home is after she graduates ). Our instructor is going to do another short course on fine tuning darkroom technique as an interim class before the advanced class. I'll definitely take the second one, but haven't decided about the advanced. Maybe... Sure wish Schatzi would decide to stay still for me...

[PattyInAK]

That is so cool! Isn't it fascinating to learn about your ancestors. My Dad's aunt who was a nun at the Mt Angel Monestary in Oregon and died the year before I was born, was an artist. She painted their ceiling and murals on the wall, and I was just sent these two that she had done in the early 1900's. I was amazed at how good she was, there were no art lessons back then especially for a nun!

DD, those are great!!!  How wonderful that you were sent the paintings!  I see where you get your attention-to-detail gene.

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

That is so neat Teresa! I think the darkroom stuff is so interesting, my vet takes black and white film photos and develops them in his own dark room, I have never tried it but have learned a lot from him. I wish I was close enough to come help distract the puppy kids so you could get photos of them!  :thumb: My studio lights and equipment are mostly here now, just the light stands and backdrop stands need to arrive, and the gels...then I will have to face learning how to make it all work!

Patty it gave me goosebumps I keep looking for a longhaired doxie hidden in there though lol. These were just digital images I'm anxious to see the real things at the Monastery.

[Roberta]

Mike yours probably turned out like boulders as our flours etc are all sort of diffrent, plus its  arecipe my mum uses from a Old flour book called Bero she brought me a copy home from one of her trips.

Highlanders are from North of a line that runs roughly from Clachan bridge accross to the east, but coming down from the highlands and Islands in the 1600 men had to change to trousers from kilts. Its other name is the brig o  tros (bridge of trousers) the hotel there used to keep them till the owners came north again. the rest are what we call choochters. or sasanach's
Roberta (totally Scottish)

[papbouv]

Going to try the Scottish Shortbread have one question I have the pan but it is dark metal due I need to reduce the temperature of the oven with some dark pans you are suppose to reduce the temperature??? Thanks ahead of time for the answer.
Papbouv

[Teresa]

My pan was the darker metal and I don't think I reduced the temp when I made it about 6 months ago. You could always drop it 25 degrees F and see what happens  :thinik:

[Roberta]

the pan colour is not the issue ( usually the darker the better as you want them to absorb heat)  it could be  between fan forced and normal ovens. Have you a thermometer ie meat one you could put in to check the temp is you are worried. I usually, with my fan forced take about 20 degrees of the temp and put the timer on for three quarters way through the cook time and watch
Roberta

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

OK I tried Mike's recipe this time. Used real butter and everything!  They actually turned out really good! And with less than the usual drama. The only touchy part was I kept dropping bits as I was wadding it up in the bowl and Hallie was lurking below the waters, snarfing up each bit I didn't want her having all that butter and sugar, but my hands were too full of "D'OH" to be able to pick it up off the floor because as I tried, even more dough would fall off, so I had to do a dance to keep Hallie back and not drop more and matters were worse because two very picky papillons were standing there next to her, who had no interest in the dough but of course Hallie didn't know that so she was going for it all the more....also it took almost an hour to cook rather than the 20-25 min in the recipe? I had it on 350. But in the end it was good shortbread!

And, so far, we have all survived and I have a nice gift for all the neighbors! I ain't doing this again until next year at least though lol.

[papbouv]

Well I tried the short bread recipe maybe I should have cooked it a little longer I think it was too thick it was light brown on top but very crumbly when I tried the fork thing.They do taste OK just crumbly on top use the orange zest how thick are they suppose to be?Used real butter my flour is up to date,guess i did cheat a little used my old Kitchen Aide mixer with the kneading attachment the dough stuck together very nicely.Would like to try it again but will have to wait till next month to get more butter.
Papbouv

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

Hmmmm that's odd Papbouv! Mine is pretty moist but firm. No clue why....first for me LOL. I don't know enough about cooking to come up with any suggestions.... Ah well as long as it tastes good....if it's crumbly maybe a good excuse to put it on top of a bowl of ice cream!