Picture Updates for the Holiday Recipes (and Reviews), Part III

The Gỏi Cuốn rolls were a smash hit at the Christmas party last night! I made them correctly with white rice and cilantro and cut them in half so they were finger-food size. A number of people asked me for the recipe. I felt pretty awesome.

The bed of spinach and rice on the rice wrapper.

Add the cilantro and the carrots.

Add the cucumber, fold in the edges, and roll.

The first few rolls on the platter.

Fairly easy to make and an absolute hit. I highly recommend them.

I also made vanilla shortbread the other night, which we are going to dip in chocolate. It's a very simple recipe. We got real vanilla beans-- my favorite-- from Costco. When I was a little kid, I always shied away from things with vanilla bean in them because I thought the little black specs looked like-- and possibly were-- bugs legs. In reality, vanilla bean lends a wonderful, strong vanilla flavor, and makes your dishes look very fancy. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 vanilla bean

Directions

1. Cream sugar and butter together. Mix until fluffy.

3. Add flour and cornstarch. Mix until it becomes a smooth dough.

4. Add vanilla extract. Slice open the vanilla bean and scrape out the black granuals from within and add them to the dough. Mix until they are distributed through.

A vanilla bean. Slice open and scrape.

5. Either make into a log and wrap in wax paper to put in the refrigerator or make into walnut-sized drops and bake for 20-23 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Update 12/23/10: No idea why I said 450 degrees-- the cookies should actually be baked at 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Also, I made them today so I took some pictures:

I only made half the log because I might want to make some more later, so I cut half into just under 1/4 inch cookies, and rolled the rest in wax paper and put it back in the refrigerator. 

Half the log returns to the fridge.

I put these in for almost 28 minutes. The edges should change slightly in color, but the color of the cookie will not change very much.

Shortbread, just out of the oven

As a good omen for the holidays, after several days of rain, there was a beautiful double rainbow yesterday.