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SharonID's Sunshine Shortbread (for solar box ovens)

Posted by Jonathan

SharonID's Sunshine Shortbread (for solar box ovens)
Shortbread can be cooked in a solar cooker

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup confectioner's (aka "powdered" or "icing") sugar

1 cup butter (two sticks or 1/2 pound)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Amalgamate the ingredients. The easiest way is in a food processor (cut butter into pieces... the dough won't quite form a ball, but will get evenly clumpy). If you don't have a food processor, you can either cut the cold butter into the mixed dry ingredients and then wade in with your hands and knead until well combined or cream softened butter with the sugar and salt work in the flour by hand.

With your hands or the back of a large spoon, press the crumbly dough as evenly as possible in a greased small, dark cookie sheet (13"x9") or other equivalent pan(s). With a knife or pizza cutter, score the dough into small squares or diamonds.

This has been tried once covered (with a matching dark cookie sheet) and once uncovered and worked well both ways. Place in solar box oven and let it bake. With oven temperatures running 210F-225F it takes about four hours. If your oven tends to be a little uneven, turn the pan front-to-back after about two hours. A hotter oven would be somewhat quicker. Shoot for a light golden brown (the top may be paler... it browns from the bottom up, so use a spatula or knife to lift the sheet of shortbread a little to check the bottom if you're not sure if it's done). When you bring the shortbread in, re-cut on the lines you scored before baking while the shortbread is still hot (it's very crumbly to cut when cold).

This long, slow baking makes the best shortbread SharonID has ever tasted. In fact her family considered naming it Outlaw Shortbread because it is so deliciously decadent that it is surprising that it's legal!

Note: You can increase the fiber while still having a very enjoyable shortbread by putting 2 tablespoons of oat bran in your measuring cup and adding the flour on top of that. You could make the dough and press it into the pan the night before you want to cook it and refrigerate overnight. Remove from refrigerator at least a few minutes before putting into the solar oven.
Source: SolarCooking.Wikia.com
As with all recipes for solar cookers, your cooking times may vary, depending on the sun, your solar cooker, the temperature of your solar cooker, your location on the planet, and any other number of factors. Just remember that this should be fun to experiment with. Try a few different recipes, note the position of the sun in the sky, and try to make sure your solar cooker stays pointed at the sun the whole time it is cooking. Note how long it takes food to cook in your cooker, at your location, during the time of year you are cooking your food, and adjust the recipes accordingly.