Disastrous oaty shortbread- what can I use it for?

rosie383

I have used a Rachel Allen recipe quite a few times for oaty shortbread which is delicious and one of the few homemade things I bake that DD1 will deign to eat!
I tried to make a double batch today to send to school for a cake sale for Sport Relief. Why is it when I make a double batch that they go wrong!!!!!? And yes, I did measure the ingredients correctly as far as I remember.
Anyway, instead of butter or marg, I used Trexx, and demerera instead of gran sugar. They are awful! They taste ok (ish) but completely crumblike and if you rub one between your fingers, it's as if you rubbed them in raw Trexx.
I have no idea what went wrong with them. I used 20% less fat than in the recipe as it says to do on the trexx box, so that's not it.
I really don't want to chuck them all out, so any ideas? I could use a wee bit for crumble topping, but it's not really the right time for that, and I have too much of the stuff.
Any recipes out there that I could use them for? They are like biscuit crumbs, not very sweet, but with a lot of grease.
Any suggestions very gratefully received.

angeltreats

Cheesecake base maybe?

rosie383

I've done that with a wee bit of it, just worried it may be a wee bit greasy, but hoping that the topping will be light enough to counteract that. Still have a big bowlful left.
Could I use it to make cookies or something? What would I need to add to make them hold together?

Gingernutmeg

Could you add some more oats or flour, and then freeze it for crumbles and cheesecake base?

Or, you could possibly try adding a bit more flour and maybe an egg - if you get it to a biscuit dough consistency you could see what they bake like, it might be that the trex makes them nice and short when they're baked.

angeltreats

Maybe it would be good for fridge cake/rocky road. There's a nice recipe in Nigella Express.

rosie383

Thank you both. I think I will try adding flour and egg to a bit of it and see what happens. Fridge cake and rocky road sound good too. Freezer is packed (got a load of fish on a whoopsie yesterday :-), but i will freeze what I can't use.
I think the trexx just made them much too short, but seriously, you wouldn't believe how greasy they are! Strangely enough you don't notice it if you eat a bit, but as I said, if you rub it between your fingers, it takes neat fairy liquid and hot water to get it off!
I will report back as soon as I have managed to make something edible (or not!!!).

rosie383

Just had a look at nigella's recipe. I have finished my golden syrup and won't get to buy any until next week. Would honey be a good substitute? Or could I make my own syrup using demerera?

rosie383

I did as suggested and added some SR flour, lemon zest, an egg and a bit of milk to bring it all together. Formed it into little balls, flattened a bit with a wet fork and baked them as cookies.
They have turned out nearly like a cross between a cookie and a scone. A bit thicker and bigger than I would like, but not bad once I made a really lemony icing and covered them.
I think I will freeze the rest and use as biscuit crumbs, or would make cookies again, but smaller and thinner.
Thank you so much for your help.

angeltreats

Rosie, re the golden syrup, I know that recipe and I think I'd wait till you were able to get some golden syrup rather than use the honey, I think it would make it overly sweet.

rosie383

Ok. Will do. The wee biscuits I made actually taste quite nice today, so all is not lost.

rosie383

I have discovered where I went wrong if anyone interested, so you don't make the same mistake as me!!!!
I used demerera sugar not realising that it is no good for a recipe like this. I normally use whatever sugar I happen to have, and only had demerera. I looked it up in my ever faithful Good Housekeeping recipe book and it said it was only good for recipes where it would be melted or rubbed in.
That's why they ended up not sweet and very greasy and gritty. It was as if I had used no sugar at all.
At least I know where I went wrong and won't make that mistake again. Hopefully someone will read this and save themselves doing it in the future too!