Brown Sugar Shortbreads with Bailey's Crème

 

Let's call a spade a spade: these are just boozy Girl Guide cookies. I used to be a Girl Guide myself, and I loved it when springtime rolled around because that meant chocolate/vanilla cremes, and the vanilla ones were my favourite. Even though I was supposed to be going door to door selling them, a box or two would inevitably end up getting eaten at home. As an adult, I still get excited when someone at my office brings in a case to sell. 

But lately there's something lacking in the vanilla cremes they're selling. They just don't taste as good as I remember them tasting 15 years ago. Maybe it's not the cookies that have changed; maybe I grew up and my palate is a little more refined now. (Actually, I think it might have something to do with reducing trans fat in the recipe in 2010 - the nineties were such a carefree, trans-fatty time. Sigh). Anyway! It saddened me that such an iconic treat from my childhood was just not measuring up, so I decided to recreate that treat for my adulthood. And naturally, that meant going to the liquor store. 

If you don't have any Bailey's or some other Irish cream in the house, you only need to buy one of those tiny bottles they keep at the cash register. Or, y'know, a 750 mL bottle, it's up to you. The cookies themselves are brown sugar shortbreads from Laura Calder's Dinner Chez Moi, and they're crisp and buttery with a nutty caramel flavour. Sophisticated! I think I might try out for my cooking badge. 

 

Brown Sugar Shortbreads with Bailey's Crème

(Boozy Girl Guide Cookies)

Shortbreads from Laura Caulder's Dinner Chez Moi

Makes about 15 cookies

Shortbreads

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

pinch of salt

Bailey's Buttercream

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

2 tablespoons Bailey's or other Irish cream

1 teaspoon vanilla 

To make the shortbreads:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line baking sheet(s) with parchment.

2. Cream the butter and brown sugar together in a mixer or a large bowl until light and fluffy. 

3. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt over the butter mixture and mix to make a smooth dough come together. You'll need to use your hands to firmly press all the dough together into one large ball. 

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about 1 cm thickness. Use a small round cookie cutter (I used the floured rim of a shot glass and it was the perfect size) to cut out as many circles as you can.  

5. Transfer your little circles of dough to your prepared baking sheets. Bake until slightly golden around the edges, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow the cookies to cool completely.

To make the crème filling:

Using a whisk attachment or electric beaters, beat the butter and icing sugar together until smooth. Add the Bailey's and vanilla and beat again until combined. 

To assemble, just sandwich a spoonful of the buttercream between two shortbreads. You'll probably want to refrigerate the cookies for a little bit before eating, or the filling will squish out when you take a bite. Or you can get messy if you want, because you're an ADULT, damn it.