A Cranberry, Key-Lime Shortbread Series

A coworker drove me home a few weeks ago - - - it's our sad attempt to carpool - - - and during a brief conversation on blog recommendations, she, scoffing, told me "...well, I've read my fair share of self-indulgent blogs." Her implication,  conveyed in her peculiar, affected, dismissive, yet still friendly manner, was that the trove of online blogs she had encountered were more often than not, well, full of shit writing, angst, and self-love, and that well, why bother?

In self-introspection, I have to say, she may be absolutely right. Although it's only a sample size of 1, I Reek of Coffee is pretty damn self-indulgent, especially in its writing within the past year. Depressingly, I've found that with ennui, general malaise, lack of will to exist, or whatever combination of self-destructive, situational behavior I've fallen into within the past year, lends itself well to complaining aimlessly into the online ether. Taking a step back though, on a perhaps a larger scale, aren't all blogs pretty self-indulgent?

I suppose, I could always do an informational blog, something that informs people about something with every post. Isn't that why we have Reddit? Another route is the inspirational blog. There's a student at my school, someone who I will probably never get along with for oh so many reasons, who has an online blog about school, prayer, her life and thoughts, etc. It's a very self-congratulatory blog, which seems to serve as either inspirational "I want to live like you" fodder for incoming students or a way for old friends to catch up on her life. I know I may be too cynical, but what's wrong with a damn phone call to catch up with your friends? Or, perhaps I'm spot on. Perhaps the subtle self-congratulation is what grates on the nerves of readers and is exactly the kind of writing that leads persons like my coworker to "scoff" and dismiss the blogging world. After all, even I can't disagree: self-congratulation = pretty damn self-indulgent.

So, before I ramble on too much about myself and try to turn this blog into something it's not, let's talk about this series. It's nearly all things tart, cranberries and Key limes, which for some people is fantastic - - - who doesn't love that mouth-puckering, "I'm alive!" feeling that comes with eating sour things? On the other hand, I'd hope that the addition of the sugary butter cookies satisfies those those who don't particularly like the "sour I'm going to die" feeling or those who prefer to preserve their taste buds. I'm just kidding, the curd is not that sour, considering the cranberries and lime. And who doesn't eat curd on shortbread cookies? It's the best!

Key limes must be a summer thing, because the last time I remember eating them was nearly 2 summers ago, after a trip to Florida. I stumbled across an affordable bag last week at the local Annapolis market (Graul's, you know, the place that has the Pasta, Bacon, and Pea salad) and knew immediately I wanted to make some curd for some pie. I also stumbled across the rare beast that is the soft peppermint stick...though that might be a story for another day (anyone heard of the Baltimore lemon stick)?

So, while engorging myself on soft peppermint sticks, I decided to take that bag of frozen cranberries I had stored away in the freezer and have some color summer kitchen fun. I bought the bag of cranberries thinking I could eat a few a day for urinary tract infection prevention...but that proved to be a poor idea. I like unsweetened cranberry juice...but munching on frozen sour pellets? Yeah, that didn't work out. Anyway, this recipe fits your schedule and your schedule alone. I think I made the curd nearly a week before the shortbread cookies, so it can definitely sit in the fridge for awhile. Another funky thing, or so I thought, was that every part of this series can be eaten independently, as complement/mixed in with other recipes, or presented together. Lots of options, no? The candied cranberries are an amazing complement on a charcuterie and cheese board or just a sweet-tart snack. The curd can be used atop of cheesecakes, between cake tiers, eaten alone or on shortbread cookies. And the cookies? Well, we all know what to do with those.

I hope everyone had a peaceful July 4th weekend and did nothing but bum around, as I like to do on holidays.

A Cranberry, Key-Lime Shortbread Series

Candied Cranberries

12 oz frozen cranberries

Juice of 2 key limes

1 1/ 4 C granulated sugar

Mix and boil together all three ingredients in a small pot for 20-30 minutes, or until syrup has reduced down and cranberries are translucent. Drain the remaining syrup from the cranberries and reserve for recipe below. Spread out candied cranberries on wax paper and let dry a bit.

Cranberry Key Lime Curd

syrup from Candied Cranberries (see above)

1/4 C freshly squeezed Key Lime juice

3 TB  granulated sugar or more

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

3 TB softened, salted butter

Mix together the syrup, 1/4 C freshly squeezed lime juice, and 3 TB sugar (or more, depending on your taste) and bring to a simmer on the stove. Simmer for 5 minutes, then turn off heat and let cool. In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs and egg yolks. 

Now to assemble the curd. Take the pot of hot-warm syrup and, while continuously whisking the egg mixture (so as to prevent the eggs from scrambling), drizzle half of the warm syrup mixture into the egg bowl. Once evenly mixed, pour the egg mixture back into the pot of syrup, also while whisking continuously. Return the mixture to the stove on low heat (do not simmer) and mix in the softened butter. Continue cooking on low heat, whisking the mixture constantly, until it thickens and holds the marks of the whisk.  Remove from heat, strain to rid the curd of any lumps, and then let curd cool completely. Refrigerate until ready to eat.  

Crunchy Butter Cookies

makes 24 small cookies

3/4 C salted butter

1 1/2 c granulated sugar*

2 C all-purpose flour

granulated sugar for dusting

*Note: you can use golden caster sugar for better color

Cream together the salted butter and granulated sugar. Then, using your hands, mix in the sifted flour until a crumbly mixture is formed. Continue gently working until a dough is formed. Mix in any additions you'd like at this point, e.g. I split the dough into two batches and mixed some candied cranberries into one batch. Using plastic wrap, pat the dough into a long log and refrigerate until firm. 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll in granulated sugar until sides are dusted in sugar. Cut the log into the desired number of pieces. Bake cookies for 20 minutes until lightly browned. Then let cool completely.