Classic Shortbread Cookies

One of the most vivid childhood memories I have is looking through the colorful buttons, ribbons and pieces of lace my mother used to store in repurposed Danish cookies tins. She absolutely loves butter cookies! The closest I've been to recreate those is with this Classic Shortbread Cookies recipe. The simplest and purest of cookies, these have just 4 ingredients: flour, confectioners sugar, butter and vanilla. Instead of pressing them in a round pan, I prefer to roll the dough, cut them with cookie cutters and finish them with sanding sugar. These are great to put together as part of a care package because they keep well and do not break easily. Stored in an air tight container, they can keep for up to 2 weeks.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and beat until well blended, for about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Add the flour mixture and beat until incorporated. Do not over mix. 

Flatten the dough into a disk and cover it with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for about an hour or until firm.

While the dough is in the refrigerator, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. I used a silicone pad this time.

After the dough is rested, lightly flour a flat surface and roll the dough into a 1/4 inch sheet. Cut the cookies using a lightly floured cookie or biscuit cutter.

At this point you can either poke holes to the shaped cookies or use sanding sugar to decorate them before baking.

Refrigerate shaped cookies in the baking pan for 15 minutes. Bake for 8 to 10 minuets or until lightly browned. (And when I say lightly, I mean very lightly)

Cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!