Pat's Christmas Shortbread Cookies

I'm writing today from glorious, sunny, rain drenched southern California.  Yes!  We received our long awaited rain and we had two days of it.  But, sadly some areas in our state suffered horrribly with flooding and landslides.  I feel so so bad for those people.  The sun is shining today and Lilly is so happy to be out and about in the back yard (really no yard since the pool takes up all the space) since she was cooped inside for two days without any gecko hunting!!

I think the Christmas baking bug has hit me and I'm on a roll!  Did you enjoy reading about the recipe for Egyptian  fayesh (tea rusks)?  I love baking my Christmas cookies and each year I make a list and ponder which ones I should make.  There's always favorites like my Danish kleiner which my children love and I always make some Egyptian cookies too.

Here's my easy recipe for shortbread.  You will need the following:

1 cup unsalted butter (slightly room temperature for easy mixing)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla powder (or you can use vanilla essence)
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch

In a mixing bowl, blend butter with a fork or pastry cutter until softened.  Add in sugar and mix until well blended.  Add in flour and vanilla powder.  At this point I use my hand to mix in all the flour.  Then add the cornstarch.  Blend well (dough should not be sticky but should be soft).

Roll dough out on floured surface about 1/4" thick.  Cut with cookie cutter of your choice and place on ungreased baking sheet.  Prick surface of cookies with fork for a fun design.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until edges become slightly golden brown.  Remove from cookie sheet and let cool on wire rack before packaging.

 

 Here they are cooling...

And here they are all tucked away safely until the holidays arrive!

I have really enjoyed my watercolor hobby that I even incorporated it into my cookie baking.  Here's a photo of some cookie tin labels I made for my holiday baking:

As you can see, there's still a few cookies left to be made......(stay tuned for next week's Danish pebernodder "peppernuts" recipe)

I hope you enjoy this recipe.  The dough is so easy to work with that it's always a pleasure making these cookies.  I'd love to hear how your holiday baking is getting along.  Feel free to comment!

Many thanks,

Pat

And...don't forget to stop by Handmade Harbour to see some great crafty ideas!