{"id":151937,"date":"2013-11-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gracious-khorana.45-76-20-142.plesk.page\/chocolate-dipped-pistachio-shortbread-a-giveaway\/"},"modified":"2023-06-26T17:12:11","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T17:12:11","slug":"chocolate-dipped-pistachio-shortbread-a-giveaway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/localmilkblog.com\/2013\/11\/chocolate-dipped-pistachio-shortbread-a-giveaway.html","title":{"rendered":"Chocolate-Dipped Pistachio Shortbread + A Giveaway"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I have two things for you today: perfectly buttery pistachio shortbread dipped in dark chocolate from The Cook\u2019s Illustrated Baking Book<\/a>\u00a0right in time for holiday cookie season, and I\u2019m very pleased to also be giving a copy away to one of you! Here\u2019s the thing: I write recipes, it\u2019s true. But I\u2019m not for<\/em> recipes, really. What I\u2019m for is a place where traditional & creative flavor pairings meet technique and ratios. I\u2019m for guides, for text books meant to empower. I\u2019m for everyone having the freedom to play in the kitchen and to use what\u2019s at hand, and this book provides what Cook\u2019s Illustrated<\/em><\/a> always has: technique. Hardcore, no messing around technique.<\/p>\n

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Fact: If I\u2019m going to approach something I haven\u2019t baked before or I\u2019m looking for a better way to do something, I go see if America\u2019s Test Kitchen has a recipe for it. It\u2019s from them that I learned to freeze and grate my butter for scones, and \u00a0I just learned that by replacing part of the wheat flour in short bread with oat flour and cornstarch you end up with a far more tender product due to the fact that the small amount of water in butter activates the gluten in the flour. This can make your shortbread tough. Boo hiss. That\u2019s where they come in and sweep me off my feet with sexy quotes like \u201cOats contain very few of the proteins necessary for gluten development, plus they have a nice flavor\u201d. Fanning myself. All you need to do is talk about protein content as regards the texture of baked goods to get me all flushed. Not. joking.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m a food nerd, and these are the things I want out of a cookbook. I want to know that we use confectioner\u2019s sugar in this recipe because there isn\u2019t enough liquid for granulated sugar to fully dissolve, and I want someone who has put in enough time testing a recipe to figure out the beautiful choreography that is this shortbread: bake high, bake low, then turn your oven off & prop it open with a wooden spoon\u2014one inch\u2014to let the shortbread \u201cdry\u201d. Yes! Awesome! If I\u2019m going to actually use a cookbook as oppose to glean inspiration from it (a fine use for a cookbook as well, truly!) then I want it to be able to teach me something I didn\u2019t already know or couldn\u2019t have\/wouldn\u2019t have figured out. That method falls squarely into that category. And this is why I love this book. It\u2019s simple, no nonsense baking and once you master their techniques and see how they implement variations, you can strike off into your own unknown waters. As for me? I\u2019ll probably be doing a rose thyme shortbread next. Because I\u2019m into that whole herbaceous floral thing. Faery food, you know.<\/p>\n

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To enter to win a copy of The Cook\u2019s Illustrated Baking Book<\/a> all you have to do is leave a comment below.<\/strong><\/del>\u00a0Giveaway now closed\u2026 Congrats to Andrea!\u00a0<\/strong>A winner will be chosen by random at the end of the week!<\/del> Good luck because this book is the kind of beauty that\u2019s meant to take lots of sticky fingered abuse in the kitchen; it isn\u2019t just a pretty tome for the shelf or coffee table. It\u2019s a tool.<\/p>\n

(I wasn\u2019t paid to write this, and all opinions above are totally my own. As if I\u2019d do this any other way! They did give me a copy of the book. Suh-weet!)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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