Bake-Along #47: Savory Herb Shortbread (with Crab Spread!)

A perfect appetizer you can make in advance for any get-together. For tips and to bake-along live, just follow along with the video.

Prep: 45 minutes

Setting time: 4 hours (minimum)

Bake: 10-12 minutes

Mom's Crab Dip/Spread Ingredients:

1 can cream of mushroom soup*

6 oz chive and onion cream cheese

3 T white wine (I used Chardonnay)**

1 packet of gelatin

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1 celery stock, chopped

1/2 shallot, minced

8 oz crab meat (whatever you can find!)

Some chopped herbs for garnish (I used thyme because that's in our shortbread!)

Savory Herb Shortbread Ingredients:

Yield: 4 dozen savory shortbread

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1/2 cup grated Manchego***

1 & 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 t fresh herbs (I used thyme and rosemary)

Salt & pepper

1 T + 1 t water

Plastic wrap or parchment to roll your shortbread logs in

Sea salt to sprinkle before baking

1. Warm your cream of mushroom soup over medium low heat.

2. Once the soup is warm add the cream cheese and stir to combine and melt together (don't boil the mixture).

3. In a separate small bowl, warm up the white wine for 20 seconds in the microwave.

4. Sprinkle your gelatin over your wine and let sit for one minute, then whisk it in.

5. Pour the wine mixture into your soup mixture and mix it all together.

6. Remove from heat and add in your mayonnaise, chopped celery, and minced shallot halve.

7. Gently stir in your crab meat (don't worry if your mixture is thin, that's what the gelatin is for!).

8. Add salt and pepper to taste and then pour your mixture into your mold. (I use a gelatin mold, so I don't grease or line it. You can line your mold in plastic wrap or grease your mold, just know that affects the texture/look of the dip.) To see my finished dip texture head to the 10:01 mark.

9. Cover in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for at least 4 hours (I only waited three and you'll see unmolding for me was a little difficult!).

10. Make the shortbread: you can see my whole process starting at the 12:39 mark.

11. Beat the butter by hand until it is smooth and creamy.

12. In a separate bowl whisk together your cheese, flour, herbs, salt, and pepper.

13. In 3 or 4 inclusions mix your dry ingredients into your butter. Eventually it will be so crumbly you may not be able to stir well, that's where I begin to use my hands.

14. Next add in your water and mix just until you can squeeze balls of dough together in your hands.

15. Using about a 1/3 of the dough at a time form rectangular logs (you should end up with 3 logs). You can see this process at the 14:00 mark.

16. Roll your logs up into parchment or plastic wrap and place them in a plastic bag. Put the bag into the freezer and allow your dough to firm up, you can wait the entire length of your crap dip setting time.

17. Bake the shortbread: once your crab dip is almost set pull your shortbread out of the refrigerator and pre-heat the oven to 350°F.

18. Slice each log into 2-3 mm thick shortbread cookies and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

19. You don't need to give the shortbread too much room as they don't spread.

20. Sprinkle a little fleur de sel on top of each cookie and bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the centers are set and golden.

21. Unmold your spread: take a dampened paper towel and gently wet the surface of your serving platter (this is so that you can slid your spread to where you want it if you unmold it off-center).

22. Wet your finger with a little water and loosen the edges around your spread. Dip the bottom of your mold into very hot water to encourage the edges to loosen, then invert onto your serving platter. (I did not wait long enough so this was challenging but it did come out as one piece and I was able to slide it to the platter I wanted it on!).

23. Chop up your fresh herbs and sprinkle on top of your crab spread. Line the dish with your shortbread, serve, and enjoy!

Notes:

• *You can swap this out for cream of celery soup if you prefer that.

• **You can swap this out for lemon juice, stock, or water! Keep in mind it would be nice to include a little bit of acid in this recipe.

• ***Choose your favorite cheese! We had Manchego on hand so I grabbed that. Feel free to sub in any hard, salty cheese (something you can grate easily enough).

• Shortbread dough can be frozen for up to two months.

• If you want to watch the Julia Child video I talked about when it comes to unmolding poorly: Tarte Tartin