What to Eat with your Morning Coffee

I am the first to acknowledge that breakfast is personal. It's not a meal for socializing or trying new and interesting flavors. Breakfast is about making the transition from groggy zombie to human being in whatever way works for you. For me, that means coffee. Forget the food...it just interferes with my veins' caffeine absorption rate. Yet, because ravenous attacks of hunger at around 10:30 am tend to interfere with productivity, I've tried to make more of a breakfast effort. Still, I find myself shuffling towards buttered toast or a couple of graham crackers instead of the "balanced" breakfasts de rigeur among the health conscious. I like a banana or grapefruit just as well as the next person, but they make my coffee taste funny.

Patrick's favorite breakfast was once a half pound of bacon and a donut, but citing concerns for his blood pressure, he gave up this combination in favor of pumpkin pie and whipped cream or chocolate cake topped with vanilla ice cream. Should the kitchen be empty of dinner party and holiday leftovers such as these, he makes do with a spartan breakfast of two chocolate croissants from Sweetie Sweetie bakery or a stack of blueberry pancakes. My sister, on the other hand, has taken to early morning tamales with tomatillo sauce purchased from a van that sits outside her apartment building from around 5 - 6 am.

So, breakfast is personal. Although I tend to like to drink my breakfast from a green Fiestaware mug, I've dabbled in danishes and sticky buns, mostly to satisfy my husband's sweet tooth while trying my hand at some of the scarier recipes in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. But today, I'm offering you my personal favorite, the breakfast that makes my morning coffee taste better and my newspaper less bitter. When I have good butter in the house, I can hardly keep from making up a large batch of shortbread. It's super easy to make, keeps for a week or more, and turns any cup of coffee or tea into a moan-worthy occasion.

Generally speaking, I prefer my shortbread plain, on the thin side, and cut into wedges. I never really wanted to risk muddling up all that buttery goodness with superfluous additions. This time, I gave into the experimental itch, and the results were not bad at all. I have to admit that, dunked in dark chocolate and sprinkled with salted cashews, these short breads become something altogether different than their simpler, naked kin. Given the option, I might prefer my plain shortbread wedges over these treats at 7 am, but this is coming from someone who is perfectly happy eating a stack of saltine crackers for breakfast.


Short Bread (Chocolate-Dipped and Cashew Sprinkled)
shortbread recipe from Ms. Stewart's Desserts, makes one 9x13 pan, about 27 cookies

You could add all kinds of stuff to this shortbread. Orange zest, candied ginger, chopped dried fruit. I have plans in the works for a savory batch with rosemary and toasted walnuts.

The butter really is important, so use a good one. I have been very impressed with Trader Joe's butter, but, as far as your average supermarket varieties go, Land-O-Lakes hasn't failed me.



1 pound (4 sticks) good butter, cut into small cubes
1 cup packed light brown sugar
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
16 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup roasted and salted cashews, finely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Butter a 9x13 baking pan (metal or glass) and line with parchment paper.

2. In the bowl of a blender fitted with a paddle, blend butter and sugar on high until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

3. Add flour, 1 cup at a time, blending on low speed in between each cup just until flour is incorporated.

4. Add salt and blend until no more flour is visible.

5. Turn out cookie dough onto prepared pan and press down with fingers until relatively even and smooth.

6. Using the back of a knife blade, score shortbread dough into the shapes you desire. (I usually use round pans and cut the shortbread into wedges, but here I've used a rectangular pan and cut the shortbread into strips). With a fork or toothpick, prick shortbread all over at even intervals.

7. Bake 45-50 minutes. Allow to cool. Cut shortbread along scoring lines.

8. Melt chocolate in a double broiler. Dip shortbread into chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. Sprinkle with cashews, and then allow to cool on a cookie rack set above a baking sheet.