Spicy Shortbread

Butter. Beer. Milk. Eggs. These are things I always have in my fridge. Hot sauce... not so much. In fact, I had never bought hot sauce before last weekend. I was at the Ottawa Locavore Artisan Food Fair to pick up some michealsdolce jam (mango ginger, yum!) when my roommate noticed a booth selling hot sauce. Chamomile Desjardins. We meandered on over and before we knew it, we'd tasted three, loved them all and each bought a bottle. The key is that they aren't overpowering, you can taste the different ingredients and it's not sheer, blinding heat.

So far, I've used my Vancouver Chipotle in pasta sauce, on eggs and now... in savoury shortbread! I was wondering what I could add to my usual recipe to make it more unique when it hit me: hot sauce! A great addition to any snack plate, these cookies don't last long... they keep well, but your friends will eat them. A word of advice, taste the dough before adding extra hot sauce and then incorporate more if you need to. There are no raw eggs, so no need for paranoia. Chamomile Desjardins' sauces aren't super spicy so I used a bit more than I would with some of the killer ones.




Spicy Shortbread
makes 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on the size

225 g butter (1 cup)
50 g brown sugar (1/4 cup)
1/2 tsp-1 tsp hot sauce
200 g flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
40 g cornstarch (about 1/3 cup)
1/2 tsp salt
100 g old cheddar, grated (about 1 cup)

1 Preheat the oven to 325 F
2 Cream the butter, brown sugar and hot sauce, then give it a little taste to see how you like the flavour. Keep in mind you'll be adding flour and it will mellow out a bit, so add hot sauce until it is just slightly too spicy
3 Sift together the dry ingredients then add to the butter in 3 additions and stir until well mixed.
4 Taste it again and if it is not spicy enough, sprinkle on more hot sauce while you incorporate the cheese into the dough
5 Roll out the dough on a well floured surface and cut shapes depending on what it's for (round, ginger bread men... hearts... what ever you want!) You can even roll it into a log, refrigerate the dough and then slice it
6 Bake on parchment lined sheets for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are just barely brown, rotating the trays halfway through
7 Cool and then eat. Don't eat too fast or you will burn your tongue

The best part of these cookies is the way the brown sugar, chipotle hot sauce and cheddar all meld together. While any hot sauce will impress, there's nothing quite like chipotle to make your tastebuds dance. Enjoy!