I have a pretty big event that I am gonna be baking for in the near future (yay!), so a lot of the recipes coming up, including this one, are gonna be practicing for that. Most of the recipes I want to use are things that I have done often, but as a few are new, I of course want to try them out first, make sure I can actually do them before attempting to do them in bulk 
I don’t know what it is about shortbread cookies, but for some reason I love them. They are a very simple, delicate cookie. They are kinda sweet, so that could be part of it, (you all know of my sweet tooth) but it is just something about the combination of that specific texture and the taste that makes me very happy…it could also have something to do with the fact that I have always been able to convince myself this is healthier than other cookies 
I also wanted to practice working with white chocolate since it is so very different from milk/dark chocolate, so some of these are dipped or decorated a little, but they are great plain too. Just make yourself a nice cup of tea, grab a few of these things and unwind.
Shortbread Cookies
Source: Joy of Baking
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon sale
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
In a small bowl whisk the flour with the salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir (do not beat) in the flour mixture just until incorporated. It will seem very flaky and dry but that’s okay.
Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.
Preheat oven to 350F with the rack in the middle of the oven. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick. You might have to knead the dough a bit to work it. If it starts sticking to the rolling pin, lightly dust the pin with flour.
Cut cookies as desired and place on cookie sheets and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough so the cookies maintain their shape. Bake for 5 minutes, turn the cookie sheet and bake for 5 more minutes or until lightly brown. Cool on a rack.
These are better the next day. They taste a little too much like powdered sugar that same day but after they get really good.
If you’d like to decorate them with chocolate, chop up the chocolate and melt in a double boiler. After that it’s up to your imagination. Swirl, drizzle, dip…whatever you please.
I also played around with chocolate covered oreos. I obviously need to work on my technique a little but it was still much fun and very tasty.
Posted by lcsa99 
