LUSCIOUS

Yes, the main Father’s Day sweet in my house is the father, the chef, the man of the house. He’s mighty, mighty sweet. As always, he made the savory stuff we ate on Father’s Day (pork and a lot of it), and I made the sweet. We have a tradition of spending Father’s Day with a family friend – the daughters have been celebrating their fathers together for about 13 years – so I made some goodies to take with us for sharing, and some for us alone.

The quickest and easiest goodie to make for sharing (especially since I seem to be on a roll with it) is yet another bread pudding. I’ve made it with cherry (recipe with that post), apple pecan, peach, and now blackberry. They were the best-looking fruit at our market on Sunday, so the deal was sealed. And it was good.

I may be nearing the end of the bread pudding run, since I’m just about out of new fruits to try. I guess there’s always pear, but that seems boring. Not that I don’t love a pear, ’cause I do. But still. For this version, not only did I sprinkle the top with sugar before popping it in the oven, I brushed it with melted butter when it came out. As my old grandmother used to say, it tastes so good you want to slap your mama.

The other treat I made for my chef has been burning a hole in my mental pocket ever since I saw the post on the gorgeous blog use real butter. Aside from being an inspirational person, the blogger Jen is an amazing cook and photographer. I have a feeling she could prepare a kitchen sponge and I’d want to eat it.

When I saw her absolutely mouthwatering shortbread cookies with candied orange peel (and dipped in chocolate, how great is that), I knew it was just a matter of time. The sooner the better, I couldn’t think of making anything else. Since my chef loves shortbread so much, it was a meeting of opportunity and obsession. Mine aren’t as beautiful as hers, but boy they’re so delicious.

Start by making candied orange peel. It’s very easy and her recipe walks you through it, but plan on this taking a very long time. You can’t start this and expect to be eating your cookies a couple of hours later. I now have a big bag of candied peel in my freezer so the next time I make it, it’ll be much quicker, but if you’re starting here, it’s going to be awhile.

strips from 4 large oranges, simmering in the simple syrup

and now cooling and drying, after being rolled in more sugar

chopped and baked into a mouthwatering, melting on your tongue shortbread.
also included is the zest of an orange and some fresh OJ.

I’d planned to dip mine in chocolate, as she did, but ran into complications, including 1) burned the chocolate, 2) ran out of time, and 3) ate the cookies too fast.

And you know how scrumptious homemade candied orange peel is, don’t you? I’m going to do the same with lemon and lime, and then make 3 versions of this delicious cookie. Wowie. It’s so good. 5 stars out of 4.

Kind of like my chef.