shortbread

Hi Everyone! If you are a tea lover like me, you are going to love this shortbread to go along with your tea! I can’t make it through the day without my favorite English Breakfast Tea in the morning, and sometimes an extra cup in the afternoon, which is always made better by a sweet treat, of course! Shortbread is one of my favorites, and this recipe, which only requires three ingredients, a couple simple steps, and can be prepared in under an hour, is both delicious and super easy! There’s nothing like that sweet, buttery cookie with a big cup of tea!

4oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2oz (about 1/4 cup) granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
6oz (about 1 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour

1. First, whisk together the softened butter and granulated sugar until you have a smooth, creamy mixture. Slowly add in the flour and mix until a soft dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out into a rectangle that’s about 1/2 inch thick.

2. Next, either cut out shapes using a cookie cutter, or cut out rectangles using a knife or a pizza cutter. Place your shapes onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Using a toothpick, make little holes in your cookies by inserting the toothpick and wiggling it around a little bit. Then, sprinkle the cookies generously with more sugar (the cookies themselves are not super sweet, so if you prefer a sweeter shortbread, add extra on top of each cookie).

3. Preheat your oven to 375 deg F, and place your cookie sheet with all the shortbread in the fridge for 10 – 15 minutes. Then, bake the cookies for about 12 – 15 minutes until they are just slightly golden brown around the edges.

And as for the tea, these are some of my favorites…

Hello Everyone! It’s hard to believe that the summer is coming to an end! I hope you’ve all enjoyed your summer, that you’ve had some time to relax and have fun, and that you’ve made lots of new memories! We’ve had a busy but great one, filled with lots of travel (and jet lag), and so many new experiences and memories. We recently spent a week in Scotland, and I wanted to share some pictures of our day in Edinburgh with you today!

Edinburgh is a beautiful city with so much ancient history and lots of charming old streets and squares. At the top is Edinburgh Castle, which overlooks the city. This is one of the views from the castle!

I was pretty excited to be wearing a scarf and a jacket in the middle of the summer! I am not a fan of the heat and the humidity that the summer brings with it, so I was loving the cool temperatures and even the occasional rain showers!

Bagpipes & Tartan

Everything was so beautifully green.

I loved this old gate!

Scottish rock candy (left) and A Scottish Recipes dish towel (right)!

Fish & Chips! We didn’t actually have this in Edinburgh, but I wanted to include this here too, because it was so so good! With all the grease that it contained, it was a heart attack waiting to happen, but it was oh so delicious!

Beautiful gardens in the city

The day that we were here happened to be one one of the days that the Fringe Festival was on in the city! There were lots of street performers and vendors out, and it was so much fun watching them all!

 Traditional Scottish tartan blankets

More tartan!

Edinburgh Castle

The interior courtyard of the castle

Cemetery for soldiers’ dogs (left) and St. Margaret’s Chapel (right). This little chapel was incredible, it was a tiny little room with just a couple of places to sit, but it was so peaceful and serene. It is also the oldest building in both the castle and in the city, and it’s hard to believe it’s been standing there since the 12th century!

You really need at least half a day to explore the whole castle, but it is so worth seeing at least a little bit of it! Besides seeing the Scottish crown jewels or some of the interiors of where Mary Queen of Scots lived, you get to see some absolutely beautiful views of the city!

I feel like we’ve been in a constant state of jet lag these past couple of weeks which has made sleeping pretty difficult, so as soon as I saw this tea, I had to get it! It’s so good, and I managed to stay asleep until 5am… !!!

This was such a fun trip, and I loved being able to visit this beautiful old city! If you are ever in Scotland, it is definitely worth a visit! This was our last trip of the summer, so it’s time to put those suitcases away and get ready for the next season…. I can’t wait for fall to come now, after the chilly weather in Scotland I am so ready for it! I hope you are all having a wonderful week, and have a great rest of the summer!

PS. I couldn’t resist re-sharing this Scottish treat with you…. I need to make some more shortbread soon!

Get the recipe HERE!

Hi, Everyone! I’m sharing one of my favorite summer recipes with you today! These Blueberry Crumb Bars are one of my favorite things to bake in the summertime! The sweet, buttery, almost shortbread-like crust covered with a thick layer or tart, gooey blueberries and sprinkled with more sweet, delicious clusters of dough makes these seriously addictive! You could definitely use different berries if you prefer something other than blueberries, and the bars would still be just as delicious! I hope you love these just as much as I do!

DOUGH

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup (4 oz) unsalted butter

1 egg

FILLING

2 cups (1 pint) fresh blueberries

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp cornstarch

1 1/2 tbs lemon juice

1. First, prepare your blueberry filling. In a small bowl, gently toss together the fresh blueberries, sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch. Set aside, and preheat your oven to 375 deg F, and grease your baking pan (I used an 8×8 inch baking pan).

2. In your electric mixer bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, butter and egg, and mix until the dough is moist but very crumbly. Divide the dough in half, and press one half into your prepared pan so you have an even layer of “crust”.

3. Next, pour the blueberry filling mixture over the dough pressed into the pan. Take the rest of the crumbly dough and sprinkle it over the blueberries. Bake for 35 – 45 minutes, or until the juices are bubbling and the dough has browned a little bit (watch the bars carefully towards the end of the baking time so they don’t brown too much and don’t dry out). Let cool completely before cutting and eating!