MY KITCHEN IN SPAIN: WHEN THE FREEZER DIES

I have a very old deep freeze, given to me second-hand, that has served me well for years. Especially when I was testing recipes for cookbooks—cooking for four or six, when there were seldom more than two at table, I always had more food than could possibly be consumed. Even without recipe testing excess, I’ve gotten very used to stashing leftovers for another day.

A few days ago, a power surge did something to the freezer’s circuitry or thermostat or capacitator. I’m going to try to have it fixed. Meanwhile, I’m sorting through the contents, my frozen assets fast becoming liquid.

Last week’s empanada will be tomorrow’s lunch. Eight cups of fish stock will go into fish chowder. A bunch of frozen bananas plus some leftover frozen whipped cream will make instant ice cream (whirl it all in a food processor).

Here’s a little container of rendered ibérico lard, a precious ingredient prepared for some past recipe. And a jar of angel’s hair confiture, an exotic sort of jam, cabello de angel, made from cidra, a kind of squash. The two ingredients suggested cortadillos de cidra, shortbread squares with a filling of angel’s hair. Cortadillos are a pastry typical of winter’s hog butchering, when lard is plentiful. They are made for the Christmas holidays, but, packaged, are available all year round.

Shortbread bars made with both lard and olive oil have a filling of sweet angel's hair. The pastry is rich and moist, keeps well in a cookie tin.

Angel's hair confiture, stashed in the freezer since last year.

Unfortunately, my cache of lard was insufficient to make an all-lard shortbread. Will the recipe work with half lard and half olive oil? Yes!

A dusting of powdered sugar as well as the filling add sweetness to a pastry that's not overly sweet.

These bars can be cut again in half.

Dessert or a tea-time treat.

Shortbread Bars with Angel’s Hair Filling
Cortadillos de Cidra

This makes a rich, crumbly pastry that keeps well. It’s good served as dessert, accompanied by sweet Sherry, or for merienda, snack-time, with tea or coffee.

Canned angel’s hair confiture is available at supermarkets everywhere in Spain. If you cannot obtain it, try substituting homemade pumpkin jam (a link to the recipe appears at the end of this post). Or, use something unusual such as tomato jam or date paste. Or apricot jam or orange marmalade.

If the angel’s hair confiture seems too thick to spread, thin it with 1 or 2 teaspoons of hot water.

Rendered pork lard.

Use non-hydrogenated, white leaf lard, sometimes called “baker’s lard.”

The shortbread itself is not too sweet; the jammy filling is what puts it in the dessert category.

Bake the shortbread in a square or rectangular pan, so that it can easily be divided into squares. An 8 X 8-inch or 10 X 6-inch pan should be about right. (My Pyrex baking pan was a little too small for the amount of dough.)

Depending how you slice the pastry, you will have 8 to 16 rectangles/squares.

½ cup rendered lard, room temperature
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
½ cup sifted confectioners’ sugar + more for dusting the squares
3 ½ cups sifted cake flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup (220 g) angel’s hair confiture (cidra)
Hot water, if needed, to thin the angel’s hair
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Combine the lard and oil in a mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until well combined. Add the lemon zest and the sugar. Beat until mixture begins to thicken. Stir in the flour and salt until well-mixed.

Turn the dough out onto a board. It shouldn’t be necessary to flour the surface, as the fat content keeps the dough from sticking. Knead it briefly until it comes together into a ball. Let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325ºF.

Cut a sheet of baking parchment to fit a square or rectangular baking pan, allowing extra to extend around the sides.

Roll or pat the dough on parchment, lift it into baking pan.

Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Place the sheet of baking parchment on work surface. Roll or pat one ball of dough, approximately ½ inch thick, to roughly the size of the baking pan. Lift the parchment and place it in the pan. Trim away excess dough or, if dough doesn’t extend to the sides of the pan, press it to spread it.

Spread angel's hair on top of first layer of dough.

Spread the angel’s hair on top of the dough. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Cut another sheet of parchment. Roll or pat the remaining ball of dough ½ inch thick. Carefully invert the slab of dough on top of the angel’s hair. (Discard the parchment.) Trim the dough so it fits the pan.

Bake the shortbread until it is pale gold, 40-50 minutes. Do not let it brown. Remove and cool on a rack. Allow the shortbread to cool completely before removing it from the pan (3 hours).

Trim the sides of the pastry, then cut into squares or rectangles. This recipe made 8 bars cut in 3X2-inch rectangles. Each one can be cut again in half, making 16 pieces.

Sift powdered sugar over bars.

Use the edges of the parchment paper to lift the shortbread out of the pan. Place it on a cutting board. Use a serrated knife to cut it into squares. Put confectioner’s sugar in a small sieve and sift over the squares. Lift them onto a serving platter or wrap each one individually in tissue paper.

The squares will keep in an air-tight tin for up to a week. Keeping them in the refrigerator firms them up.