Fig & Whiskey Whole Wheat Shortbread

This shortbread recipe was inspired by none other than our own beautiful First Lady Michelle Obama. As a quick aside, if you haven't looked at the fashion and style blog Mrs. O, I highly recommend it.

Back to how I developed this recipe. Marian Burros who writes blog posts for The Caucus, wrote a post about the high cost of hotels during the Inauguration. In the article, she included a wonderful recipe. I halved the recipe. Replaced the egg with Greek yogurt, made a few other changes and voilà! My new shortbread recipe was born.



In case there is any confusion, I do want to make it clear that I received the OIKOS Organic Greek Yogurt found in this recipe free from Stonyfield Farm, which I mentioned in my last related post.

Something new that I noticed since this last post is that their website has a store locator. I found it difficult to find this yogurt, so this should make it easier for people to find stores that sell it.

Fig & Whiskey Whole Wheat Shortbread
(Adapted from Michelle Obama's Shortbread Cookies)
Makes 6 large pieces

1 T OIKOS Vanilla Organic Greek Yogurt
1/2 cup Smart Balance (softened)
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
2 T honey whiskey
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 diced figs (approximately 2 T)

Combine ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir well. This is a very small amount of dough.



Place the dough in an ungreased round cake pan. Bake at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes. Let cool slightly, then cut into pieces while still warm. Enjoy!

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2009. All rights reserved.

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OIKOS Organic Greek Yogurt Cake

I hope you're all enjoying your Memorial Day as we remember those who've served our country. I finished baking a cake and it's cooling in the fridge. After I make a pasta salad, I'll be getting ready to pick up my brother, then we'll be headed to my parents' house for a visit and a nice meal.

Even though I moved out of my parents' house decades ago, it's still says "home" to me. And it's nice to be able to go home again. I'm sure that those who are serving in the military abroad are eagerly anticipating their return home too.

The concept of home and what makes someplace home is something that I've pondered often since I was a child. I've always loved The Wizard of Oz and remember Dorothy's magical words "There's no place like home."

The people at Stonyfield Farm understand that there's a powerful tie between food and home. OIKOS is Greek for house, household, or family. And OIKOS is the name of their new Organic Greek Yogurt.

I was contacted by Stonyfield Farms and asked if I'd like to try their new Greek style yogurt. I had never tried this type of yogurt before, so I eagerly awaited the overnight yogurt shipment. They gave me a large variety of their Greek yogurts, which I happily ate straight from the container and used in baking. Greek yogurt is smooth and creamy. Click here for coupons and try it yourself. The only bad thing that I can say about this yogurt was that I had a problem finding it in the grocery store. Hopefully you won't have that problem!

Over the next week or two, I'll be sharing more recipes and information with you. For now here's the cake recipe. I have to head out of the house!

OIKOS Organic Greek Yogurt Cake
(Adapted from Chocolate + Zucchini's Yogurt Cake)

1 cup plain OIKOS Organic Greek Yogurt
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 T honey whiskey
a pinch of salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 2/3 cups flour

Oil and flour a round cake pan. Set oven to 350 degrees.

Combine ingredients in a medium bowl. You may want to use a large whisk to make sure the eggs are well incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 35 minutes.

The cake will be well browned. Cool and serve. I'm assuming this is really good, but I haven't tasted the cake yet. Only the batter. Which was quite tasty. You may want to top the cake with a bit of whipped cream, some fruit, or a simple vanilla glaze. I think this will taste just fine plain though. Enjoy!

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