shortbread cookies.

And so the baking continues. I'm quite impressed actually. I've already made chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal cookies (that's a mouthful!), lemon crinkle cookies, magic bars, boeterkoek and now shortbread...and my husband hasn't eaten them all! That's a Christmas miracle in itself! 

I had never made shortbread until now, and not being a huge cookie eater...I'm not sure how valuable my opinion is, but these are dang good shortbread! Anna Olson...you done good! They've got all the qualities you'd want in a good shortbread...buttery, crumbly, melt in your mouth! And then the piece of chocolate on top is just the icing on the cake. Pick your favourite type of chocolate, whatever it may be! Just a word of warning...white chocolate (specifically cookies and cream) does not turn out as pretty :). 


Shortbread Cookies 
 
- (1) cup unsalted butter at room temperature 
- (1/2) cup plus 2 Tbsp icing sugar 
- (1/4) cup cornstarch or rice flour 
- (1 1/2) cups all purpose flour 
- (1/2) teaspoon salt 
- (1) teaspoon vanilla extract
- Your choice of chocolate (Toblerone, Jersey Milk, Cookies and Cream...etc!), optional

 
Preheat oven to 350 °F. Beat butter until light and fluffy. Sift in icing sugar and beat again until fluffy, scraping down sides of the bowl often. Sift in cornstarch or rice flour and blend in. Sift in all purpose flour and salt and mix until dough comes together (it will be soft). Stir in vanilla. Spoon large teaspoonfuls of cookie dough (or use a small ice cream scoop) onto an un-greased cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between cookies. If you choose to add a piece of chocolate, press whatever chocolate you like into each cookie.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until bottoms brown lightly. The original recipe called for 18 to 20 minutes, but I found my cookies started to brown on the bottoms after about 12 minutes, so keep an eye of them! Remove from cookie sheet to cool and enjoy! Freeze the cookies if you'd like to enjoy them at a later date.