12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies - Shortbread

My favorite Christmas cookie is shortbread.  I just love it!  I used to always buy it from Costco because I didn't think anything that good could be easy but shortbread is incredibly easy and has very few ingredients.  I saw shortbread cookies at Costco the other day and I was very tempted to buy them until I realized I hadn't picked a cookie to make this week.  So I googled a recipe and saw how easy it was so I whipped them up right away.  This is also the perfect recipe to make with kids who like to eat everything as you are making it because there are no eggs.  I don't like to let the girls eat what I am making before it is cooked mainly because of the raw eggs and well Zoe will eat anything...seriously she will say yum after trying some baking soda.  I am also very proud of myself because I was able to get over half of the cookies into the freezer for Christmas.  I think it helped that it was just me and the baby at home.

Ingredients
adapted from Anna Olson on the Food Network

1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup 2 Tbsp icing sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch or rice flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 °F. Beat butter until light and fluffy. Sift in icing sugar and beat again until fluffy, scraping down sides of the bowl often. Sift in cornstarch or rice flour and blend in. Sift in all purpose flour and salt and mix until dough comes together (it will be soft). Stir in vanilla.


2.Spoon large teaspoonfuls of cookie dough (or use a small ice cream scoop) onto an un-greased cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between cookies and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until bottoms brown lightly. Remove from cookie sheet to cool.

Week 4 Twelve Weeks of Christmas: