EMERALD ISLE SHORTBREAD
¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup powdered sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. green decorative sugar for sprinkling
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper or a Silpat mat. Beat the butter in a mixer or food processor for about 2 minutes, or until it is light in color. Gradually beat in the sugar until the mixture is soft in texture. Stir in the flour to make a softened dough. It will be crumbly.
Pack the dough, ¾ to 1 inch thick, in the lined pan. Cover with plastic wrap, and then use the back of a teaspoon to level the dough and smooth the top as necessary. Remove plastic wrap. Mark off 1½-inch squares in the dough, and cut down between each square to make it easier to remove after they are baked. Bake for 15-20 minutes in the middle of the oven until light golden brown, opening oven a few minutes before finished and removing pan quickly to sprinkle shortbread with green sugar.
Move to a rack to cool before removing the pre-cut bars. Store for 2-3 weeks in an airtight container or freeze.
Recipe by Nathalie Dupree, TV Host and Cookbook Writer
CHARLOTTE’S SOUTHERN GARLAND
Materials:
Evergreen trimmings
Twine
#24 Floral Wire
Your favorite added decorations (ex: dried pomegranates, mercury ornaments, magnolia leaves, etc. . . . )
1. Gather your favorite evergreen trimmings. The more you gather, the longer and fuller the garland will be. (Charlotte spent hours wandering the back woods of her mama’s house, piling her wheelbarrow high and wide with juniper, pine and magnolia.)
2. Now gather the things you want to add to the evergreen. (Charlotte used dried pomegranates and mercury Christmas ornaments.) Choose whatever strikes your fancy and will be a compliment to your holiday design! Set these decorations aside with your magnolia leaves.
3. Pile all your beautiful trimmings and then begin to cut your trimmings into approximately six-inch pieces.
4. Now cut a ten-foot length of your twine. Lay this twine straight on a flat surface and then tie a loop into one end of it.
5. Pick up your #24 floral wire and attach it to the loop. DON’T cut your wire yet—keep it on the spool so you can unwind the wire as you go along.
6. Gather a handful of evergreen trimmings and loop the floral wire around the ends of this bundle. Now face the bunch with the stems facing from the twine-loop and then attach the evergreen to the twine by wrapping the floral wire around the end of the bundles. Continue looping the wire around the bundles of evergreen, bunching bundles as close together as possible. (Don’t forget-the stems face the end with the loop where you started.)
7. Continue attaching the evergreen bundles all the way down the twine until you reach the end, filling in the length and sides until it is as full as you’d like it.
8. Now cut the wire.
9. Use the floral wire to attach the dried pomegranates, magnolia leaves, or mercury ornaments to your taste.
10. Hang and then smile at your beautiful handmade garland.
