Stress Baking

Here is a rather asinine observation: different people deal with stress different ways. If Grey's Anatomy is to be believed (use your own discretion), some people deal with stress by imbibing copious amounts of vodka (Meredith) and sleeping with inappropriate people at inappropriate times (every single character on the show). As interesting as that sounds, in the wake of my upcoming second comp exam, I am preparing for some stress baking. Although I have managed to not bake anything this weekend thanks to a sprained wrist and a mountain of books that I need to annotate, I am fairly certain that, come Thursday morning, sugar, butter, and flour will be covering every available surface of my incredibly tiny kitchen.

To get in the spirit of things (and to prepare myself for the inevitable), I wanted to share one of my favorite shortbread recipes. Like everything else I make, this is not a original recipe. Instead, I came across it in a lovely little book called Sweet Gratitude by Judith Sutton. Not only are the recipes fairly user-friendly (I have had luck with all of the ones I've tried from the book), but Sutton's entire premise of the book is cooking with the express purpose of giving food away. I often bake and give way food (just ask my fellow grad students or the people who work at my neighborhood grocery store), so this is the perfect book for me (if not for my absurdly small kitchen).