Adventures with Nancy Rose: Spumoni Shortbread Cookies

FBLA 2013 Cookie Exchange Recipes

Chai Tea Cookies -- Cathy Arkle of She Paused 4 Thought (She also got tired of rolling the dough and refashioned the rest into Baby Hedgehog cookies.)
Butter Pecan Fudge -- Dorothy Reinhold (me!) from Shockingly Delicious.
Antioxidant Chocolate Bark -- Erika Kerekes (our hostess) of In Erika's Kitchen.
Sweet Potato Marshmallow Bars with White Chocolate Chips -- Jennifer Richmond of Kitchy Cooking.
Chocolate Chip and Apricot Walnut Rugelach and Vegan Chocolate Mini Cupcakes ("Naughty & Nice Cookies") -- Dana of Foodie Goes Healthy
Vintage Sponge Drops with Double Fudge Filling -- Leslie Macchiarella of Bake This Cake.
Sicilian Christmas cookies -- Judy Lyness of Two Broads Abroad.
Cranberry Orange Walnut Sugar Cookies -- Patricia Rose of Fresh Food in a Flash.
Brown Butter Praline Chocolate Chip Cookies -- Valentina Wein of Cooking On The Weekends.
Mini Chocolate Nut Sandwich Cookies -- Kelly Page of Tasting Page.
Rosemary Raisin Cocktail Shortbread -- Sharon Graves of Cheesy Pennies.
Saketini Christmas Balls, Chocolate Macarons with Japanese Wine Cream Centers, and Matcha Green Tea Cookies with Chocolate Centers & Espresso Cookies with Caramel Fillings -- Kim Watkinson of Ninja Baking.
Blueberry Coconut Mini Cupcakes, Rainbow Chocolate Bark, and Vegan Gingersnaps -- Judy Weintraub of Bumbleberry Breeze.
Chocolate-Dipped Apricots with Pistachios -- Adair Seldon of Lentil Breakdown.
Spumoni Shortbread -- Nancy Rose Eisman of Adventures with Nancy Rose.
Crispy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cardamom Gingersnap Cookies -- Alison Ashton of Nourish Network .
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Oat Bars -- Alanna Waldron of Eats Real Food.
Red Velvet Gooey Butter Cookies -- Tanaya Ghosh of Tanaya's Table. (Tanaya's Table, the blog, will launch in 2014.)
Black and White Cookies -- Tina Kil. (Her blog isn’t up yet, but watch for her contributions in the future!)

Non-Cookie Items

Chiang Mai Chicken in Endive Spears -- Cathy Arkle of She Paused 4 Thought.
Seasonal salad -- Nancy Rose Eisman of Adventures with Nancy Rose.
Barrel-Aged Sazerac -- Jennifer Richmond of Kitchy Cooking.

If Santa has a list that he checks twice to see if you've been a naughty or nice food blogger then he probably won't be stopping at my casa this year. The nice bloggers actually post on a regular basis, while the naughty bloggers wait until the local food blogger group (FBLA) that is nice enough to let them be a member has an amazing annual cookie exchange (check) with related recipe round-up that everyone participates in (un-check).

So I'll try and remedy this by providing my recipe, and I use the term loosely, for the really cool looking and tasty Spumoni Shortbread cookies that I brought to the party:

1. Make shortbread cookie dough or cheat like me and buy a package of Betty Crocker shortbread cookie mix. Just add butter, or Earth Balance sticks like I did to make the cookies vegan.

2. Divide the dough in 3 parts and flavor/color each one like so:
A. Maraschino cherries, juice, and red coloring (add almond extract if you have it - I didn't).
B. Pistachio nuts, green coloring, and the aforementioned almond extract.
C. Unprocessed cocoa powder and espresso syrup (or the like).

3. Place one part at a time on a sheet of parchment paper and form into a narrow rectangle about 1/2" thick. Stack the other 2 parts on top. Wrap and refrigerate several hours - over night is easiest.

4. Unwrap dough, cut into 1/4" slices, place on a parchment lined baking sheet an inch or so apart, and bake according to package directions.

5. Remove from oven, let cool on racks, and then spread melted dark chocolate (Valrohna that your friend Judy gave you if you're lucky, or another good quality chocolate) on the chocolate section and let the chocolate set about 30 minutes.

These cookies are nice to look at and nice to eat. Santa, should I leave a few out for you?

Real, delicious recipes from the nice FBLA bloggers: