Sugar: Granulated vs. Powdered

[WhateverYouWant]

I am not a big cookie baker. I occasionally make chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin and they turn out great. But I wanted to take a stab at my own "thumbprint" cookies (ala Pepperidge Farm Verona) and came across chef John's recipe, which calls for powdered sugar. I noticed other recipes that called for granulated, or a combo of granulated and light brown sugar.

I've never bought powdered sugar as I really don't care for the texture of it sprinkled on stuff (especially donuts). If need be I suppose I can make some from granulated using the Vitamix, but I don't see the point.

So am I (and those other YouTubers) missing something meaningful here for a shortbread style cookie, or is this just another one of those CJ idiosyncrasies that really doesn't matter one way or the other?

 

[blissful]

Powdered sugar usually has some corn starch mixed in so it doesn't clump. Corn starch doesn't clump dry things, but thickens baked good and makes them more 'fragile' or crumbly. It gives cookies a nice 'crisp'. I add corn starch to my shortbread so it is very fragile and I really like it that way.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Shortbrea/Shortbread Thumbprint Cookiesd

Ingredients:
2 cups butter
1 cup brown sugar packed
3 ½ cups all purpose flour plus ½ cup more.

Preheat oven to 325’ F Cream together the butter and brown sugar. Add three-and-one-half cups of flour. Blend together util well mixed.
Sprinkle a clean work surface with board with the remaining half cup of flour. Knead the shortbread dough for about five minutes, mixing in additional flour to kepp the dough from sticking to the board.

Remove the dough from the bowl and make into a smooth ball. Flatten and place the dough onto the work surface. Roll from the center outward in all directions to form a half inch sheet of dough. Place onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake for twenty to twenty five minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.

Alternately, cut into 3 inch cirlces and press a thumbprint into th middle of the circle. Fill sith your favorite filling, such as poppy seed, lemon curd, berry preserves, or jam. Bake on parchment paper lined cookie sheet for 9 minutes.

Spread with a cookie glaze made from milk and confectioner’s sugar if desired.

Note: Confectioner’s sugar, and powdered sugar are not the same thing. Confectioner’s sugar is powdered sugar with added cornstarch. You can make powdered sugar by taking ordinary table cane sugar and processing in a good blender.

Nutty Shortbread Cookies

These delightful cookies are inspired by Pecan Sandies. They have a wonderful crunch, and combine all of the cookie flavor of buttery shortbread cookies with the scrumptious flavor of hazelnuts, and cashews, all covered with a dark chocolate gaze. You will love these cookies.

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups of All Purpose Flour
• 1/4 tsp of Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp of Salt
• 1/2 cup of Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature
• 1/3 cup of Granulated Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
• ½ cup of Finely Chopped Hazelnut
• ½ cup Finely Chopped Cashews (or Macadamia Nuts)
• Powdered Sugar

Chocolate Glaze
For the glaze, use the best chocolate you can find. Lint makes a great chocolate, as does Valrona, Dove, and Green and Blacks Russel Stpver's French silk Chocolate. If you want great chocolate, and are planning to use it frequently, opt for coverture chocolate.
Coverture chocolate is high in cocoa butter, and when tempered, produces a beautiful shine, and crsp snap. It also tastes great. Here are a coupe of links for coverture chocolate -
https://premiumchocolateco.com.au/product/lindt-swiss-premium-couverture-ecuador-70-piccoli-2-5kg/

https://www.amazon.com/lindt-chocolate-piccoli-ecuador-couverture/dp/b00d8yjs80?tag=isthisnice-20

https://www.cocoaoutlet.com/index.php/chocolate/dark-couvertures.html?limit=30&mode=list

Do a bit of research and you can find prices from about $13 for a small bag, to over $200 for substantial amounts of coverture chocolate. Unless you are planning to start a chocolate candy operation, and are going into chocolate sales, I would recommend getting a small bag, as chocolate can go stale.

You will need to temper your chocolate. Thais is a process of raising, lowering, and again raising the temperature of the chocolate while constantly stirring. It causes the sugars to align , producing a wonderful sheen, and crisp snap. And so for your glaze;
Ingredients:
10 oz. High quality 50% to 70% cacao chocolate. Place 2 cups of water in the bottom of a double boiler, or into a sauce pan. Bring the water to a boil, then turn down heat to low. Place the top of the double boiler in place, or place a stainless steel bowl over the sauce pot. Breakup the chocolate and place into the double boiler top, taking care to not let any water get into the chocolate. Use a candy thermometer for accuracy. Melt the chocolate and bring to a temperature of :
Dark – Heat to 120° F then cool to 82° F bring the temperature back up to 90° F
Milk – Heat to 115° F then cool to 80° F bring the temperature back up to 86° F
White – Heat to 110° F then cool to 78° F bring the temperature back up to 82° F.
Dip your cookies into the tempered chocolate. Keep the chocolate at the final temperature while working.

If using white chocolate, food coloring paste can be stirred into the white chocolate.

For the Cookies:
Preheat oven to 350’ F (177’ C.)
Using a mixer with paddle attachment, or wooden spoon, cream together the butter and granulated sugar. Mix in the egg until fully incorporated. Add the salt, vanilla, and baking soda. Mix until all is well combined.

Add the flour and chopped nuts. Use the low speed on your mixer for about thirty seconds. to avoid splashing flour all over the place. Increase the mixer speed to medium and mix another thirty seconds, or until all of the ingredients form a homogeneous cookie dough.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. With a 1 inch scoop, or a tbs. Portion out the cookie dough to make 24 little dough balls. Space them evenly onto the cookie sheets as yo make them. Wet one hand and lightly flatten the dough balls to make a thick disk. Place the cookie sheets into the hot oven and bake until golden brown, about 14 minutes., give or take a little. Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper, with cookies, onto cooling racks, or onto a flat surface. Let cool for 10 minutes. Dip the top side of the cookies into war, chocolate glaze. Let the glaze cool. Enjoy.

Seeeeya;Chief Longwind of the North

 

[WhateverYouWant]

Powdered sugar usually has some corn starch mixed in so it doesn't clump. Corn starch doesn't clump dry things, but thickens baked good and makes them more 'fragile' or crumbly. It gives cookies a nice 'crisp'. I add corn starch to my shortbread so it is very fragile and I really like it that way.

BINGO! A number of the "other" recipes involving granulated sugar specified cornstarch. I think you nailed it here... thanks!

 

[blissful]

You're welcome. The best thing for shortbread, to me, is using salted butter, make them barely sweet and that little bit of salt really makes them special.

 

[pepperhead212]

I use the salted butter in the SB, too, so there are no particles of salt in the cookies, if I'm using powdered sugar, or powdering the brown sugar.

I use powdered sugar in one shortbread recipe, too, and I like the texture it gives. If you like the flavor of brown sugar in shortbread (a.k.a. "Shortenin' Bread"), but like that texture try this - put the sugar in the Vitamix, with half the flour (1/2 c brown sugar to 1 c flour, in the recipe I remember), and blend on high, to make the sugar very fine (adding more of the remaining cup of flour, if it is too moist). I add another tb or so of flour, to make up for the moisture in the sugar. I make the shortnin' bread the rest of the way in the food processor, using chilled, salted butter - can be rolled out immediately, since it is cold. Here is a basic recipe I have used for years.

SHORTBREAD

2 c flour, + a tb or so, if using damp brown sugar

1/2 c brown sugar (I usually use a medium-dark kind), or use 1 c powdered sugar

3/4 tsp vanilla extract (option)
1/2 c dark Dutch cocoa (option)

1 c chilled, salted butter, cut into 1/2" cubes

A. Preheat oven to 350° (300°, if making with cocoa). Line a couple half sheets with parchment.

B. If you want the powdered brown sugar, place in the Vitamix with a cup of the flour, or more, if necessary, and blend until very fine. Place the flour and sugar in food processor, and process until homogenized. Add the cubed butter, and process until the mixture forms a ball.

C. Roll out dough to 3/8", or 1/2", if pressing a design into them (I use dowels of different diameters, depending on what I am rolling out). Cut 1½" (if pressing a design) or 2" cookies, and place 1½" apart, if pressing, or 1", for the larger, thinner cookies. For those, press a fork in them twice, through to the sheet.

D. Bake 20-22 min. (26-30 min., for cocoa shortbread, at the lower temp), shifting the sheets halfway through, unless using convection oven. Cool on a wire rack, and store for a day or two - the butter flavor gets better!

 

[Oldvine]

Hi Scott...This has nothing to do with powdered sugar but it was sweet for us. Thanks to a snow storm, we honeymooned in Pollock Pines.

 

[WhateverYouWant]

My driveway last March:

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

My driveway last March:

[/QUOTE

I can relate. Here's a typical March picture of my driveway -

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Oops. I hit the wrong button. Here's that picture, along with a wintertime recipe that makes good use of powdered sugar. -

Slushy:
2 cups of fresh snow
1 cup chopped strawberries (or whatever berry you prefer)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp, vanilla extract
place strawberries, vanilla, and powdered sugar into a blender. Blend until liquefied. Place 1/2 cup of freshly fallen, clean snow into bowls. Pour strawberry mixture over the top.

In the summer, use crushed ice (made in blender) instead of snow. Enjoy.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[pepperhead212]

I was wondering where you were getting that snow...until I got to the end of the post.

 

[CharlieD]

People. people, it's summer outside, do not remind me, i dread that time of year. The older i get the harder it is to deal with cold. Pictures of winter are not allowed, read the rules, I'm joking about the rules, not the pictures.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Off topic - as a child, I remember distinctly never being satisfied with the seasons. In summer, I was always too hot, and wished for the chill, fresh bite of winter air. In winter,I frequently stayed out until I was half frozen, so cold that I was in pain, sometimes, a half degree away from frostbite., Nd I wished for the warmth of summer air. If only there was a place where temps stayed between 50 and 72 degrees year round.

Fortunately, I have learned over the years to adapt to my environment, and have found that doing something I really enjoy, like cooking, can take my mind off of the temperature.

So Charlie, when it's cold out, and snow is halve burying your home, make a great, hearty stew, or creamy soup, something hot, and comforting. When it's hot, with 90% humidity, make a cold gazpacho, or watermelon salad, or a wet, ice cold slaw to refresh you. If I can survive the temperature extremes, you my friend, a man made of sterner stuff, can do it.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North