A Treat or Dessert From Next to Nothing? You Bet!

Is it possible to whip up a treat or dessert when there's next to nothing (groceries-wise) in the house? Absolutely! And in keeping with the theme of "Skinny Pickins'" that we've been dallying with this week, we thought we'd pass on this idea as well.

The answer to "What's for dessert?" (when you hardly know what is for dinner), can be an old Scottish tradition--SHORTBREAD. This delicious, melt-in-your-mouth cookie that's been around for 200 years, is a real tribute to the ingenuity and frugality the Scotts are famous for.

With butter, a little powdered sugar, a bit of cornstarch, and some flour, you can present your family with a delightful treat at the end of one of those "we gotta make do tonight" dinners.

And like yesterday's suggestions, this recipe was also found on allrecipes.com. We've tried lots of shortbread recipes over the years, and this is without doubt one of our favorites. Notice how simple it is:

BEST EVER SHORTBREAD

1 C butter, softened

1/2 C powdered sugar

SCANT 1/4 C cornstarch

1 1/2 C flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whip butter until fluffy. Slowly add dry ingredients, mixing carefully so they don't fly out of your bowl. Don't panic, you DO NOT need to add any liquid. The fat globules eventually expand to absorb all the dry ingredients. At first the contents look like little crumbles, similar to pie crust dough. But keep mixing--it'll come together nicely.

Grease a baking pan (8 inch square works well if you don't have the traditional shortbread pan), then sprinkle greased pan well with granulated sugar. Plop the blob of dough onto the middle of the pan and with wet fingers, spread it out to the edges, trying to smooth the top as much as possible. That's it. Bake for about 15 minutes, but watch this closely, as oven temperatures vary. You don't want to over-bake it, you just want it lightly browned.

Turn off oven, and after removing from oven, place a cutting board on top of the pan and quickly turn it upside down so the shortbread falls onto the cutting board. While the shortbread is still warm, prick it evenly with fork tines (see pictures) then use a long knife or pizza cutter to cut even squares. We do three cuts one way and three cuts the other way to end up with 16 square cookies. Return shortbread (on cutting board) to the oven; prop the oven door open and let shortbread sit for about 10 minutes. This allows moisture to escape the cookies. Store cookies in an airtight container when completely cooled.

We know this isn't a glamorous dessert, but it's sure yummy. Serve 2 or 3 cookies placed nicely on a napkin alongside a glass of milk and voila, a dessert from next to nothing that will be a nice surprise and tasty ending to your evening meal.

Now before closing, here's another tip: If you're even out of powdered sugar, you can still make this cookie. Just make your own powdered sugar: Put a cup of sugar in your blender and blend on high until "powder" appears. (You'll end up with more than 1/2 cup.) Keep the lid on tight--this stuff likes to escape. It won't be the exact texture of the store-bought stuff, but it'll be close enough to work just fine in this recipe.

And as always, we'd like to know if you've ever made shortbread and if you have a favorite recipe for it? Also, do you have your own tricks for pulling dessert off when there's next to nothing in the house? And of course, thanks for sharing and helping us all make family dinner hour possible!

A Treat or Dessert From Next to Nothing? You Bet!