Marble Shortbread

by Diana 

Shortbread has been one of many happy British discoveries. It’s probably one of the first recipes I learnt when arrived to the UK and my greatest tutor was none less than The Ritz London Book of Afternoon Tea (a low-budget-student-pre-owned £0.01- Amazon deal of course). I remember buying it as I wanted to recreate an afternoon tea for my parents-in-law when they visited us for the first time since we emigrated about 9 years ago.

As I adopted aspects of British culture I noticed how shortbread became one of those so embedded indulgences that I use as self-compassion reward over my midday cup of coffee twice a week or so - when working in the private sector of course, where such indulgences can be afforded to keep up the good spirits. It’s surprising what you can achieve by applying some generosity over buttery tea treats. There is something about butter that is quite comforting but I can’t yet put my finger in what exactly it's all about. Perhaps it’s to do with the fact that it’s a milk product hence we unconsciously associate it with breastfeeding and maternal love or is that too much of a psychodynamic interpretation? I wonder about the vegans's opinion on the subject. I'll keep thinking about it. Enjoy the recipe though, another one with a chocolaty twist.

© The Teaspoon

Pan de Bono - attempt 1

by Diana 

Pan de bono is to me the Colombian snack per excellence. I used to crave them after a long day at uni when living in Caracas as there is a large Colombian community in the city, at least back then when economy in the neighbour country were not as fruitful as it is today.  I attempted making them once with a Galician heritage friend of mine of the time who enjoyed a cooking challenge as much as I did. We were both surprised with the outcome and the satisfaction was so elevated (and over fulfilling) that we didn’t need to eat them ever again! Here I am 15 years later attempting them once more with the naive believe that my settled blogger experience would compensate London’s inaccessibility of the right tropical ingredients. The outcome this time (hence the title of this post) is possibly more similar to a savoury British scone than an actual pan de Bono though. Perhaps I have immersed in the culture so much that I unconsciously and intuitively ended up with a British produce - not necessarily a bad thing but nevertheless something I unfortunately can't use as evidence to support my ‘life in the UK’ test due to be taken later this year. 

I hope you enjoy this European version of Pan de Bono which is still a delicious recipe, just not quite the right one! and do keep an eye on the blog as I will make version #2 to make up for it.

© The Teaspoon