Happy Holidays!

Obviously, this is the year of being s-l-o-w, for me, anyway!  So, what better way to cap off this year by being a few days late in wishing everyone Happy Holidays! :-)

Thank you to all THE GOODS and Stella followers this year.  And in the spirit of continuous improvement, let me get in an on time Happy New Year!

May 2012 be filled with love, health and happiness!  My New Years Resolution? Spend time with those you cherish and make a resolution to stick to the simple things in life, as they are always the best things in life!

Oh, and being a bit more regular with blogging - always a good thing :-)

See you in 2012!

Easy Peasy Christmas Cookie #2

Polvorones - a great Mexican treat for Christmas!

Though these cookies are more commonly referred to as Mexican Wedding Cookies, I've found that they make a great addition to the Christmas cookie list! Polvo means powder in Spanish, which is exactly what these crumbly and buttery cookies turn into in your mouth. Yes...they actually melt-in-your-mouth!  With few and accessible ingredients, easy to prepare with a high level of enjoyment, these little bites of yumminess are on our list to bake this year!  Enjoy them with a nice cup of coffee, with their fragrant and nutty flavour, or be completely indulgent and add a couple to your next bowl of hot chocolate!

Thanks to the Food Network for this easy version.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup ground walnuts
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more for serving

Directions

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until well blended. Beat in the flour, and then the ground and chopped walnuts. Divide the dough in half, forming each half into a ball. Wrap separately in plastic and chill until cold, about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Working with half of the chilled dough at a time while keeping the rest in the fridge, roll the dough by 2 teaspoonfuls between your palms into balls. Arrange the balls on a large baking sheet, spacing them 1/2-inch apart.

Bake the cookies until golden brown on the bottom and just pale golden on top, about 18 minutes. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Toss the warm cookies in the powdered sugar. Transfer the sugar-coated cookies to a rack to cool completely. (The cookies can be prepared 2 days ahead. Store in an airtight container at room temperature). Sift additional powdered sugar over the cookies, if desired, before serving.

Classic Cookies: Shortbread

About this time every year my interest peaks to find new or improved recipes for some fantastic cookies.  Maybe it's the enjoyment I get making cookies with my daughter (and she still enjoys it) or the calmness of being in the kitchen and creating - probably even more so than the season upon us - Christmas is great, but creating a cookie is awesome!

Reviewing my cookbooks reminded me of one of the core reasons I began to blog - to capture the best things I've encountered, house them in one place (instead of the pile of thousands of paper recipes) and to have something I can pass on to Jenna and share with friends, family and Internet searchers!  And in that spirit, I've decided to present a series of blogs that capture classic cookies with the most efficient and best recipes I have...to date!

So here is the most basic and one of my husband's favorite seasonal cookies - the mighty Shortbread.  Although my preference is something with chocolate, I have to admit, this is one of the most versatile cookies out there - how many ways can we create thee, let me count the ways....

Shape?  Whatever you like - from the most basic circle shape taken from a water glass imprint, to your favorite cookie cutter; wedges made from pressed shortbread in a pan, sticks/fingers, spirals and the list goes on.  To sugar, dip in chocolate or leave plain - these were once the only adaptations on the basic recipe.  Now, try any variation on flavour, from a french lavender, Mexican lime, Indian chai, seasonal cranberries, figs, apple cider to healthy green tea or matcha tea flavour.  I could go on, but for the sake of my poor typing skills and your patience, I'll stop here.

So, here is the recipe.  This week Jenna and I whipped up a batch of simple, heart shaped cookies sprinkled with sugar.  They are rich, buttery and oh so Christmasey!

Shortbread

Ingredients

1 cup, unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp vanilla, optional
Additional sugar for dusting, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl with an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until they are just combined.

Add the vanilla, salt and flour and mix on a low speed until the dough starts to come together.  Dump the dough on a floured surface and roll the dough into a disk shape.  Cover with saran wrap and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Roll the dough to 1/2 inch thick and cut with any shape cutter.  Place the cookies on an ungreased sheet pan and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake for 20 minutes until the edges begin to brown.  Allow to cool to room temperature.

Enjoy!