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!