Top of the morning to ya! It’s St. Patrick’s Day and I’m wearing green and drinking cold tea. I can hear my downstairs neighbor violently coughing. Seriously, it’s been like that for a few weeks now. She’s either dealing with/recovering from a bad cold, or needs to stop smoking. Ok, I’m not sure if she smokes, but her boyfriend does. Maybe if he stops smoking then she’ll stop coughing? If only it would work like that. Hopefully she at least has cough suppressants (Riiiiiiicolaaaaaaaaa!). 

Back to today. St. Patrick’s Day – the non-day off, holiday that is probably the most profitable day for all Irish bars in America. Since this St. Patrick’s Day is on a Monday, many celebrated over the weekend. I guess I kind of celebrated by going out both weekend days, drinking Italian pilsners and Mexican lagers. I know, neither are Irish beers, but still beer. I also wore some green jewelry which is as festive as I felt like being besides making some Scottish Shortbread for my lassies and lad (yes, just one lad). 

Now wait one second (you could probably ask), why did you make something Scottish when St. Patrick’s Day is an Irish holiday?? Why didn’t you make a cookie from Ireland? 

Yes, I understand your concerns. First of all, there isn’t a cookie from Ireland listed on the list of ’40 cookies from around the world’. Secondly, Scotland does indeed celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and since they’re on the list, it was meant to be my latest batch. I’m not going to go into the history of St. Patrick’s Day or even how shortbread cookies came about. What I will say is that this was one of the easiest recipes from this list that I’ve made so far. The best and easiest recipe I found is from Christina’s Cucina: https://www.christinascucina.com/how-to-make-shortbread/

There are only 3 ingredients: butter, flour, and sugar. You mix them together, put in a square baking pan (8×8 or 9×9), pat the dough in, cut into little rectangles, poke holes using a fork, and bake for 15-30 minutes. Mine only took 15 minutes as they were already browning around the edges and deemed done by me. Once you take them out of the oven, you sprinkle some sugar on top, and then let cool in pan until they’re ready to then be moved onto a cooling rack. Note: you will have to re-cut them after they’ve baked and cooled in the pan, but that’s super easy.

So how did mine turn out??

I actually made two batches over the last couple of weekends and both turned out great. The first batch I made, I mistakenly added the sugar coating before putting the cookies in the oven, but that didn’t affect how they turned out. Being wiser with the second batch, I waited to sprinkle the sugar after they finished baking which was also fine. I would definitely make these again, but I also saw a recipe for Millionaire’s Shortbread (also Scottish) which is shortbread topped with caramel and chocolate that sounds amazing so I might try making that in the near future.

When most people think of the Irish, they also think of things that would bring about luck. Examples of lucky things would be the four-leaf clover, leprechauns, a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, the color green, and if you actually go to Ireland, kissing the Blarney Stone. Some even just say “it’s the luck of the Irish” if you have something remotely lucky happen and you happen to have some Irish lineage.  We all could use luck in our lives, but most of us usually associate luck with winning something. Getting a job nowadays can also be considered a form of good luck. You apply, your application gets noticed, you get an interview, you get another interview and possibly one more because that’s how it is now, and then you maybe get the job – or win the role. Yes, other factors like skills, education, and work history can also be considered, but it seems like it now comes down to luck. Who you know, or who you meet that may have that opportunity you’ve been looking for. I thought I was lucky when, after 3 prior unsuccessful attempts, finally got a call from HR about a job I applied for at the publishing company I was vying to work at. I then felt that luck was really on my side when I got my first job there and would move into editorial a couple years later – where I thought I belonged. However, luck can be short-lived. That “dream job” may not be at all what you thought it would be, and you didn’t have a back-up plan or kept thinking that it would eventually work out because that was where you belonged and then convinced yourself that you actually didn’t belong. Next thing you know, you’re unemployed, middle-aged, and trying to figure out what to do in a time when career changes are rare in a competitive job market and your years of experience just simply make you appear even older. Every week that I apply for a role, or don’t hear from one I’ve applied to, or get ghosted by employers (the worst), becomes more demoralizing and discouraging. I have no other choice, but to hold out for some kind of luck again (I’ll take any luck I can!), and try not to let my current lack of luck get me down to the point where I don’t care anymore. I guess this is why I’m trying to do this blog and baking project, because when everything else in my life feels like it’s going nowhere, at least I know I can make a yummy batch of cookies and write about it.

Next time, I’ll try to suppress both my negative and dirty thoughts when I make a big batch of Kahk. I know, my mind definitely does not need to belong in the gutter.