Christmas Shortbread Cookies

I truly believe that there is a direct link between the level of NOM left under one’s tree for Santa and the amount of goodness that he leaves for you in return! Sure there is all of this talk of “have you been bad or good” but lets be honest, no matter how much magic one old Man can possess it’s surely becoming a much tougher job (with his age and all) to keep track of kids Facebook pages! So, unless you’re willing to take a chance on a very old, yet jolly, Saint Nick to bring you what you REALLY want for Christmas this year, you better get to baking!

I made these cookie cut outs much the same as I did the Gingerbread cookies from the Gingerbread Christmas Tree, which means I rolled out all of the batter into a fairly thin sheet and baked it… THEN I used my handy cookie cutters to get really crisp edges on my cookies!

Then I let them cool off for an hour or so. There are two important things for you to remember here, first you HAVE to let the cookies cool sufficiently to allow for decorating. Any heat coming off the cookies is going to create one big puddle of icing on you; not good. Second thing to remember is that you just cut into a baked cookie sheet. So the natural browned edges of the cookie sheet that you see above go away for the little individual cookies that you just cut out. This is important to remember because now all of the steam being released from the cookie is going to via the new raw edges of the cookie. Cover your cookie, and don’t let them sit around all day before decorating. The icing acts as a natural barrier and keeps the moisture in the cookie!

Now Decorate!

Go ahead, break out your best sugar sparkles, pearls, and gel coloring!

The easiest thing I find for decorating cookies is to have an idea going into it what you would like the design or pattern of the cookie to look like, but also allow yourself the ability  to make veer from the path if the need arises! If you go into it with zero idea how you want the cookie to turn out then your going to waste a lot of time making mistakes and tossing out undesirable designs. On the opposite spectrum, if you go into it way set on one specific outcome, you might also waste a lot off cookies that aren’t up to par! Have Fun!

Shortbread Recipe

3 cups Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsp Cream of Tartar

1 cup Sugar

1 cup Unsalted Butter (softened)

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

 

1) Cream the butter for 5 minutes with paddle attachment on medium speed.

2) Add eggs, vanilla, and sugar, continue to beat for 3 more minutes.

3) Add remaining ingredients with mixer on low speed until all dry ingredients are combined and the dough looks uniform.

4) Roll out using parchment paper on both sides of the dough.

5) Bake 15-18 minutes at 350 or until the center of the dough is becoming slightly firm.

6) Remove from oven and allow 2-3 minutes to allow cookie to cool slightly; cut cookie shapes while the cookie is still warm and soft.

7) **** IMPORTANT STEP**** Hide cookies from “others” in the house or be prepared to suffer the same fate of my cookie below. Santa will not be pleased :(

 

Posted in: Christmas Baking, Cookies, Occasions