Shortbread Sandwich Cookies With Blood Orange Filling For Anna-Karin and Smilla

oh so pretty and comforting

Have you ever mindlessly wanted to bake till you drop? Well that is a constant desire in my little pea sized brain. I have visions of baking from dawn to dusk, and it is even worse with cooking. I am sure it is to compensate when I am feeling low or the weather has been crappy outside.
I was on such  a good pace with my blog. Adding entries regularly and enjoying it. Work was well, and my time in my Swedish language internship had not started yet, and I was feeling confident. Then.... we got the news....
A friend from Goat's past and (lilla A's godfather) S. good friend C, died in a horrific car accident that left two dead and one walking away from the scene physically unhurt, but scared for life.(He was wearing a seat belt)

I was all set to make an entry then I just couldn't it was so hard to be up beat and cheery. I never really had a relationship with the deceased but the people who mean the most to me did. It is a strange place to be. It is like grieving through osmosis. I wanted to post something for my pal A-K.Who like me loves, loves and loves baking even more than me, and something that perhaps would give her some sort of pleasure in her time of need. This is for S&A.K and the true meaning of friendship and food. It is like bread and butter they are hardly separated

try to make then the same size you want to sandwich these babies .

Looking  forward to seeing you both on sunday. Vad blir det för mat?.(what kind of food is it going to be)?  

Adapted from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2
Melting Moments a.k.a. Shortbread with Blood orange filling sandwich cookies.

175g butter, softened
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plain flour all purpose(sifted)
1/4 cup (cornstarch) corn flour(sifted)

Directions: Preheat oven to 180C or 350F
Place butter, icing sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl and beat with mixer until light and creamy.

shortbread!

Stir in the flour and the cornstarch until combined. 

baked until just golden!

look at that color, can 't go wrong with a blood orange!

a cookie spatula is a great investment  

Place mixture into a piping bag with a star or fluted nozzle and pipe them in rounds about 3cm, 1 inch onto a baking tray lined with baking paper or silicon sheets. Allow room for some spreading. Mine spread quite a lot, and I think I should of chilled them prior to baking. They are a real super tasting shortbread cookie. DELICATE so be gentle when you ice them and sandwich them. You should get 16 pairs out of this recipe, but I only got 13. I think mine where too big?? Let the cookies cool completely on their trays and then remove the icing from the fridge and ice them with about a couple of small teaspoons of the blood orange filling. Find two some what matching shapes and sandwich them together. Let chill in fridge to stiffen the filling, but let them rest 10 minutes before serving. A good cup of Earl Grey tea would go so nicely with these! 


Filling
60 g butter softened
1 cup icing sugar(confectioner's sugar)
2 teaspoons or one whole blood orange(small one)
2 teaspoons blood orange grated orange peel.

Melting moments shortbread cookies with blood orange filling sandwich cookies for those times of need

To make the filling, place the butter, icing sugar,blood orange juice and rind in a bowl and whip with electric mixer until fluffy and creamy. I set it in the fridge for at least 10 minutes prior to icing. A little firmer to work with. May these little comforting cookies find a place in your kitchen as they are super fast and easy to make.Enjoy, and thanks Donna for the inspiration!