Delicate shortbread cookies are one of my favorite cookies to make. They are quick, easy, take to all sorts of favor variations, and always impress. This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is described as being similar to a shortbread cookie, but wafery and lacy. You can see that my cookies are quite classically shortbread-like. I am not sure what happened to “wafery and lacey.”
The recipe includes lime zest, shredded coconut, chopped macadamia nuts, and a pinch of coriander. Not wanting to spend $10 on macadamia nuts, I decided to use sesame seeds in their place. Granted, this change could explain the lack of a wafery, lacey texture, but it would surprise me that the substitution would make that much difference in the texture. I can’t wait to see how these came out for the other TWD bakers.
For a shortbread cookie these were fantastic! The addition of corn starch makes them so tender and crumbly, yet the shredded coconut adds a wonderful chewy texture. I wasn’t completely sure the sesame flavor would work, but it absolutely did. I want to try them again with orange zest, star anise, and sesame.
Dorie uses a great plastic bag technique for rolling the dough that makes working with this very sticky dough trouble-free. Basically, the dough is placed in a gallon-size plastic zip-top bag and rolled to fill the bag. Once chilled, cut the bag open, slice the dough and it can easily be lifted onto a baking sheet. She uses this same technique with other sticky doughs and it always works like a charm.
Jayne of The Barefoot Kitchen Witch picked the recipe for this week and she has it posted on her blog if you want to give it a try, but you should just spring for the whole book so you have all the other recipes too!
I, along with over 350 other baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours
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Sesame seeds sound like an interesting sub. The cookies look like they turned out well. And I agree about the ziploc bags, it makes it so easy! Well done.
YUMMY! Sesame must have been a delicious addition to this! …and how ingenious to substitute macadamia nuts for them… probably just the same kinda… FAT!!! lol
Very nice… as usual, Carol!
I love sesame seeds, and this is a fantastic substitution!
These look DELICIOUS!
I replaced the macadamia nuts with sliced almonds instead and they turned out beautifully as well.
I love the sesame seeds idea. So many different variations, so little time!
What an inspired substitution! I can’t wait to try this one. Did you toast the sesame seeds?
Great cookies..love the ss idea! I thought these cookies were very tasty!
You just have the magic touch. Your cookies look perfectly delicious.
Interesting substitution! Your cookies look wonderful – they’re so perfectly square!
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuu! Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuu! Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy birthday, happy birthday to youuuuuuu!
I wish you all your heart desires on this great new year that you are starting, plenty of health, lots of love, and most important… many, many reasons to smile and laugh!
A very happy birthday to you, Carol!
Ooooh sesame seeds! That sounds awesome! The photo is gorgeous (as usual!)
Mine were more shortbread-y than lacey, too. But I can’t figure out what was intended. If we were going for wafer and lace, why did we do the fork tines as if for shortbread? Hmm, questions, questions. No need to ponder how great your cookies are, though. I’ll bet they were perfect with the sesame. Yum.
Nancy
Ooh, sesame seeds, that sounds so interesting. They look fantastic!
Made mine with chia and cashews, but the sesame seeds sound good too. Yours look tasty.