Vanilla Rooibos Shortbread Hearts

My right wrist and right forearm have been feeling sore for the last couple of days. Why, you ask? I have a sneaking suspicion it's cause of work. I am a 'certified barista' at Starbucks and the constant pouring, shaking, pumping, blending, and garnishing - mostly with my right hand - is taking its toll. In spite of this drawback, and a couple others, the job is alright, my coworkers are cool people overall, and I like making drinks for people. My biggest challenge is usually the foam - some people are picky about foam. Dense foam, bone dry cappucinos, extra foamy lattes ... getting the perfect foam on a drink for a customer is challenging, especially during rushes, but is also strangely satisfying.

One benefit to working at Starbucks are the weekly markouts. I have a box of vanilla rooibos tea that's been sitting around the tea corner in my kitchen for the past couple weeks. I like the tea but it's definitely not one of those teas I can drink daily - maybe more of a monthly thing. If you've ever tried this tea, it has a fruity, warm flavour and a strong and sweet aroma. I thought it would be a nice touch to the traditional shortbread cookie by giving it a burst of fruity vanilla flavour.




White Chocolate Vanilla Rooibos Shortbread Hearts

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup butter
3 vanilla rooibos tea bags, steeped for 2 minutes and tea contents removed from pouch
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 squares of pure white chocolate, melted

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Thoroughly mix together the flour, sugar, and cornmeal. Add the butter into the mixture and mix until crumbly. Add the vanilla rooibos tea contents, milk, and vanilla extract. Form into a large ball and roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut out heart shapes with cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and let them cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Dip cooled shortbread hearts in melted white chocolate and place in refrigerator until the chocolate sets.

Adapted from Tartelette

Biscotti Aubergine

These cookies are actually blueberry lemon biscotti with almond glaze - not eggplant biscotti! The reason for the "biscotti aubergine" is because I put too much blueberry in my first batch of biscotti and it oozed out the end of the roll and turned the outside an eggplant purple which made it look like a big eggplant before the biscotti was sliced. I learned my lesson with the second batch and the roll came out much cleaner. But I have to say, the 'eggplant style' biscotti of the first batch was was more fun and flavourful! :)

Biscotti Aubergine

1 pint blueberries
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons yellow rock sugar
1/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup softened butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Grated peel of 1 lemon
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Almond Glaze:
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons melted butter
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup sliced almonds

Place blueberries, lemon juice and rock sugar in small pot over medium to high heat until boiling. Reduce heat to simmer for twenty minutes or until all sugar is melted and blueberries have burst. Mix in the raisins. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy in a large bowl. Add the eggs, vanilla and lemon peel and mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to creamed mixture until a smooth dough is formed. Halve the dough, form into one-inch thick disks and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll out each half of dough into a 12 inch by 8 inch rectangle. Spoon and spread blueberry-lemon-raisin filling over rolled out dough. Roll up the dough jelly-roll style from the 8-inch end. Place each roll seam-side down on cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Transfer each log onto a cutting board and let cool for 5 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices. Bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven and place on wire racks.

If there is left over blueberry filling, spoon over warm biscotti. Combine confectioner's sugar, milk, melted butter, and almond extract in a small bowl to form almond glaze. Generously sprinkle sliced almonds over top of warm biscotti and drizzle glaze over top.

Adapted from Taste of Home Cookies