Monday, March 16, 2009

help!

When I was in London a little over a year ago, I ate a really, really unhealthy diet.  It consisted mainly of coffee, tuna melt sandwiches from EAT, large quantities of Cadbury Fruit 'n Nut bars, and Belgian chocolate shortbread scones.  Most nights, Kelli and I would stop on our way home at the Tesco grocery store across the street to get a snack since it had usually been hours since our last tuna melt.  She often got virtuous things to eat that were brightly colored and full of vitamins.  (You know, fruit and stuff.  Kelli, I hope you read this because I am making you look really good here.)  I, on the other hand, always got this thing that I think was called a Belgian chocolate shortbread.  It was quite unusual.  It was triangular and quite large, like a scone you would get here.  Except it did not taste remotely like breakfast food.  It tasted like a soft and fluffy shortbread cookie.  And it had Belgian chocolate drizzled all over the top.  It may be the best food item I have ever eaten in my entire life.  

I would like to make such a dessert.  I am open to the fact that it will probably take several tries and several different recipes to reach the desired result.  However, I am having trouble finding even one recipe that is similar to what I remember.  

Part of the problem is the language barrier.  (Yes, I said language barrier.)  I would describe it as a "shortbread scone" because it tastes like shortbread and looks/feels like a scone.  However, in England, a "scone" is not like our scones here, but circular and a lot more fluffy, a lot more like what we call a biscuit.  I can't look for "shortbread biscuit" either, though, because biscuit = cookie.  And all the "shortbread" recipes I can find are thin and dense, like a cookie.  Which are delicious, but not what I want to make.  

Confused yet?  I definitely am.  I can't believe that everyone has not caught onto how wonderful these things are and immediately spent hours trying to replicate them in their own kitchens and posted the results on the Internet for all to share.

I have found one promising recipe. 
I am going to try to make these tomorrow.  I don't have macadamia nuts, so I might try it sans nuts and sans raspberry sauce and see if the taste and consistency are similar.  If so, I can then get some chocolate to drizzle across the top.  If this recipe doesn't work, though, I don't know what I am going to do.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  I will not rest until I have satisfied my craving.  I am thinking of calling Tesco and asking for their recipe, but a) this would be expensive and b) I doubt they would give it to me.

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