Hungarian Shortbread
Hungarian Shortbread
Rhubarb jam
1 pound rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
½ cup sugar
½ cup water
½ vanilla bean
Place the rhubarb, sugar, and water in a medium saucepan. Split the vanilla bean, scrape the soft, pulpy seeds into the pan, and toss in the pod. Bring to a simmer over low heat, and cook, stirring often, until the rhubarb softens and almost seems to melt. The cooking time will depend on the rhubarb, but it probably won’t be more than 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, retrieve the vanilla bean, and cool the jam to room temperature.
Otherwise substitute about 1 cup of favorite jam/preserves.
Shortbread
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
4 sticks unsalted room temperature butter
4 large egg yolks
2 cups granulated sugar
Powdered sugar for dusting
Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl and set aside. In a mixer fitted with paddle, beat the butter on high speed until it is pale and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and sugar and beat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is light. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until the ingredients are incorporated.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface and cut in half. Shape each half into a ball and wrap each ball in plastic. Freeze the dough for about 30 minutes, until firm. Dough can be frozen for up to a month - just thaw overnight, still wrapped, in the fridge.
Center a rack in the oven and preheat at 350F. Remove one ball of dough from the freezer and, using the side of a box grater with the largest holes, grate the dough into a 9x12-inch baking pan. Pat the dough gently just to get it to the corners and spread with the jam. Grate the remaining dough over the jam and press it lightly to distribute evenly. Bake the shortbread for about 40 minutes, or until golden brown.
As soon as you remove the pan from the oven, dust the top of the shortbread heavily with powdered sugar. Cool to room temp on a rack.
Cut the shortbread into bars when cool. Store covered at room temperature. The shortbread will keep for about 2 days. It can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to a month. Thaw, still wrapped, at room temp.