YUMMM!

Hungarian Shortbread

1 jar polanar all fruit-raspberry
4 cups of flour
2 tspn. baking powder
1/4 tspn salt
4 sticks unsalted butter
4 large egg yolks
2 cups granulated sugar

Mix butter, sugar, and egg yolks. Then put mixer on low and add dry ingredients. Roll into a ball and cut in half. Shred one half into 13 by 9 in. glass pan. Top with jar of fruit preserves. Shred other half of dough over the top. Give a little press and bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Let me tell you this is the best holiday desert there is! I don't make it often due to the four sticks of butter but man it's crumbly, it's sweet, serve it warm, and it melts in the mouth!

A highschool friend of mine is a pastry chef. One day he brought me some of this hungarian shortbread. He only brought two warm pieces-it was so good. Then about six months later we are walking home from midnight mass on Christmas Eve and we walked by his house and I could smell it. Well you know I knocked on his door and told him to pony up with the goods. So the kids and I went in and were given some hungarian shortbread and some hot cocoa (his wife taught me the key to that which I will share at the end). In February we moved to Texas and when we stopped by to say goodbye they shared the recipe and the story with me.

As you know he's a pastry chef. A few years back Julia Childs had come into his restaurant and he came out and asked her what her favorite pastry desert was. She said the Hungarian Shortbread. Well of course he had her cookbook so he looked it up and has been making it ever since. It's good stuff! So here is a recipe that I associate with the holidays and I hope that you will enjoy. Just a word-if you have a hand held mixer you will not be able to mix with it. It must be some kind of stand mixer, this recipe is why I asked for a Kitchen Aid for Christmas. Oh and the cocoa. Make your normal hot cocoa and add a shot of Goldshlager to it-sounds gross-I've made lots of friends with that recipe this year. So Vanessa, Chris, Mel, and Tracy what is your favorite holiday treat?