Shortbread is the quintessential holiday cookie. It’s buttery, lightly sweet, crunchy, and easy to make. It’s a blank canvas for decorating and cookies cutters work perfectly. There is no leavening in the dough, so the cookie will hold its shape during the baking process. This is a basic vanilla shortbread. You can tweak this recipe any way you like, though, by adding lemon zest, orange zest, dried fruit, cinnamon, or toasted nuts. For decorating you can coat the cookie with a colored sugar before baking or decorate with icing, sprinkles, or whatever suits your desire. So gather the kids, the cookie cutters, and the sprinkles. It’s holiday cookie time.
3/4 lb | unsalted butter at room temperate | ||
1 C | sugar | ||
1 tsp | real vinilla extract | ||
3 1/2 C | unbleached all purpose flour, sifted | ||
3/4 tsp | kosher salt |
In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter with the sugar until combined. Add the vanilla extract. Then add the flour and the salt. Mix until it forms a dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and use your hands to shape into a disc. Wrap in plastic. Move to the refrigerator to cool for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Pull chilled dough from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured surface roll to 1/2” thick. Then cut into desired shapes. Space cookies out evenly on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned on the edges. Let cool then decorate as desired.