Shortbread Cookies
- Total Time: 1 Hour 20 Minutes
Description
Borrowed from Trish Magwood’s book, ‘In My Mother’s Kitchen’, she called these ‘Mardi’s Shortbread’, and they’re pretty much a whipped shortbread melt-in-your-mouth cookie. You can make the dough ahead, I weigh the cookie balls so presentation is always perfect (which makes them marvelous for giving away), and they freeze beautifully – enjoy!
Ingredients
1 lb. (2 c.) butter, room temperature
1 t. vanilla
2 c. (250 g) flour
1 c. (120 g) icing sugar
1 c. (160 g) cornstarch
colored sugar or sparkles for decoration
Instructions
Using your electric mixer, beat the butter for a few minutes until light and fluffy – you may need to scrape down the bowl a time or 2, then beat in the vanilla. In a medium bowl, whisk together the 3 dry ingredients, then with the mixer on low, gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mix and beat on low speed until well combined. These bake up beautifully only if chilled first, but I always measure/roll them out before putting the balls in the fridge – simply easier to work with.
As mentioned, I weigh my dough balls – I like the size that 15 grams gives me – but teaspoon size works, just roll them neatly and uniformly. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, then when you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 300 and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper. Arrange the chilled balls on your baking sheet, they don’t spread much. Use a fork to carefully and uniformly flatten them all, sprinkle on decorations as you wish, then bake for about 20 minutes until the cookies are firm, but not colored. For me, 15 gram balls at 18 minutes is perfect, and I get about 5 dozen cookies.
When the cookies come out of the oven, let them cool on the pan for several minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely. Eat and/or freeze as required!
- Category: Cookies, Christmas
