Vermont Shortbread Company

Grocery Marketing Scams

I'm all for convenience, but yesterday while grocery shopping, for some odd reason, I had a food and grocery marketing scam bee under my bonnet (i.e., all the ridiculous products out there that advertisers would like us to believe we can't live without).  Here's what I came up with.  Got any to add? 

• Activia yogurt - have you ever read the list of ingredients on this stuff.  I wouldn't feed it to a dog.  And what the heck is bifidus regularis?  Sounds like a lab-grown bacteria mutant to me. Ummm...maybe some good old PLAIN Greek yogurt with natural bacteria and a side of good old fiber might do the trick.  Not that I've ever been constipated.  I'm just saying...
• All those trendy cheeses and yogurts that followed Activia - These days everyone's got some proprietary bacteria to get you regular or protect your immune system.  Whatever happened to fruits and veggies? 
• Antibacterial soap - Unless you work in a hospital, what's the point?  Doesn't real old-fashioned soap do the trick?  Wait a minute...perhaps we need the antibacterial stuff to take care of all those mutant yogurt bacteria? 
• Bleach antibacterial kitchen cleaners - Here's a hot tip.  We use this in the Vermont Shortbread Company bakery.  A very small amount of bleach mixed with water in spray bottle.  Kills germs, costs  pennies.  We use it all the time to clean our surfaces.
• Oscar Meyer Lunchables - Just one word, "Why?" 
• Smucker's Uncrustables - These are pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Again, why?
• GladWare  - These are plastic storage containers. In this day and age of everyone going "green" and trying not to create so much trash, why would anyone buy these?  Surely, everyone has a bevy of old plastic containers in their kitchen.  Hey, here's an idea...why not use old yogurt containers.  Please note: the Activia containers will not probably work.  You have to throw them away.  Here's to landfill! 

Yeah, I'm on a bit of rant.  So, add your favorite silly products to my list.  I need to go compost my leftovers now. 

Deviant Food Behaviors We Don't Admit To

Yesterday, I caught myself digging a teaspoon into a pint of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream.  Not so bad, eh?  Well, frankly, I don't really like this flavor.  Still not so bad, right?

It only becomes "bad" when I become a miner.  Yep, I concentrate fully and wriggle my spoon into the icy depths for one reason only:  TO EXTRACT THE GLOBS OF COOKIE DOUGH and shove them into my anxious mouth!  Then I put the injured pint back in the fridge hoping no one will notice.  Jackson watches with big brown wise canine eyes, but he can't talk, so I'm safe. 

Here are some food behaviors I pretend I don't do and don't necessarily do now, but may have done in the past (yeah, right): 

• Over the course of a few days, deplete the contents of a can of that horrendous chemical-filled canned frosting with a teaspoon.  I would never put it on a cake, but it's okay on a spoon.  What's up with THAT? 
• Stick my fingers into my mother's box of Russell Stover soft-centered chocolates (the bottom side of the chocolate) to see what was inside.  If it was pink, put the chocolate back in the box and do not eat it.  Who the heck likes the chocolates with the pink fillings anyway?  I'm doing a public service. 
• Fish all the cashews out of a jar of mixed nuts.  (Okay, I think this one is common so I don't feel so deviant.) 
• Peel the cheese off a pizza, roll it up in a ball and masticate the chewy glob for 10 minutes.  Throw the naked crust away.  Heh-heh...I said masticate and naked in the same bullet point. 

So what weird things do YOU do with food? 

You get extra points if you have a really good deviant shortbread story to tell (i.e., you made s'mores out of your shortbread). 

Las Vegas: A City of Extreme Dining Experiences

I've eaten elephant biltong in Africa and blood pudding in England, but I'd be a liar if I claimed I tried the deep friend Twinkies advertised in this photo. 

While I'm hardly a food snob, I just couldn't sully my tastebuds with a Twinkie after my tasting experience at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon.  A tapas-like meal of about 12 artfully displayed courses (honestly, I lost count of the courses - more about the exact contents on another day when I find my notes) followed by Cirque du Soleil's Ka at the MGM Grand left me wanting to preserve all my senses in their state of heightened awareness for as long as I could.  So, the deep fried Twinkie will have to wait.  And so will my descriptions of what I ate for I am tired and Vermont Shortbread Company is in full holiday production mode beginning tomorrow. We've hired a second baker to take on the giant task of pumping out holiday gift boxed shortbread. 

I met with some wonderful food service folks in Vegas, saw two shows, played 18 holes of golf, visited the Hoover Dam, and got my hair cut.  I'm psyched about the food connections and ideas generated.  I'm a bit nervous about my weird hair. 

I'm sipping some Zubrowka Bison Grass vodka on the rocks (discovered this at a Polish restaurant in Montreal a few years ago before it became trendy - it's a nice sipping vodka I wouldn't dare mix with anything) and then I'm off to bed.

It's great to be back in Vermont.  I'm looking forward to researching and possibly implementing the new shortbread feedback I received from food gurus in Vegas.  Now if I could just figure out how to make the day longer...or sleep less...

P.S. Last but not least, I will never forget the Ka performance because that's where I was when my new nephew was born in Brooklyn, NY on 11/10/06.  Congratulations to my brother and Michelle! 

Yours,

Ann a.k.a. The Traveling Shortbread Chef

Baking Peanut Butter Cookies in Vermont

At the Vermont Shortbread Company, we always like to know what's cooking with our friendly neighborhood Vermont bakers... especially when they publish mouthwatering e-newsletters like King Arthur Flour does.

We got permission from editor P.J. Hamel to reprint this tasty essay on peanut butter cookies. Methinks it's been far too long since the last time I ate a homemade peanut butter cookie. Enjoy the article, and when you're done, why not whip up PJ's peanut butter cookie recipe.


P.J. Hamel asks her readers:

Whatever happened to good old-fashioned peanut butter cookies? You know, those tender, peanut-ty cookies that are unbelievably delicious with a glass of cold milk. The ones that, when your mom was making them, she'd let you carefully press the dough down with the tines of a fork.

And you were SO careful to do a good job.

One big factor in their apparent (and lamented) demise is the downfall of peanut butter in general throughout America's child population. Many schools have banned peanut butter, both in the cafeteria and in lunches brought from home, due to its potential danger to children with nut allergies. This is wise practice, but sad, too; used responsibly (odd to think of it in those terms!), peanut butter is a wonderful ingredient.

When we were developing recipes for our new whole grains baking book, due out this fall, the cookie chapter fell to me, and one of the first recipes I tried was a whole-wheat peanut butter cookie. With no allergy sufferers near the King Arthur test kitchen, I was able to spread samples around widely, and they met with wildly positive response. "Hey - I love these cookies! I haven't had one since I was a kid." Seems like a lot of us grew up on p.b. cookies, so I think it's time for them to make a comeback-in responsible fashion, of course!   

This week's recipe makes a cookie that's crunchy on the outside, chewy within. King Arthur's new organic 100% white whole wheat flour, a superb whole-grain flour due out this summer, makes a dynamite cookie. In the meantime, feel free to substitute regular whole wheat flour, or even all-purpose flour. And, oh - don't forget the milk!

P.J. Hamel, Editor
The Baker's Catalogue®

I Want to be on the Food Network This Year!

Many of my friends have heard me mention my desire to be featured on the Food Network's program Recipe for Success this year.  If you watch the Food Network you probably know about Iron Chef.  One of my favorite Saturday night activities is to watch Iron Chef with a glass (or bottle) of wine. 

Betcha' didn't know Iron Chef recently aired a shortbread showdown and I WON!