For many of us, Christmas isn’t unless accompanied by the familiar traditions of our youth. One of mine, shortbread cookies. I made the first batch the week before Christmas, bringing some for the fellowship hour after worship on the 23rd. Since then I have had four requests for the recipe. Since they seem so well received, I’m sharing.
Shortbread Cookies – 350 F oven – 10-15 minutes – makes about 8 dozen
- 1 pound butter – leave on counter to soften for at least a day, cream well with beaters
- 1 cup sugar – gradually add to the butter mixing it well with beaters
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon extract (typically vanilla, I have used almond) – beat in well to the butter and sugar mixture
- 5 cups flour – fold in one cup at a time, at the fifth cup you’ll likely have to use your hands to knead like dough
Roll the dough into balls (about the size of a chocolate truffle) and place on a cookie pan. Flatten with a fork in a cross hatch pattern. Garnish with small pieces of candied cherries, coloured candy bits or those silver candy balls. (I use an almond slice when I substitute almond extract. I suspect if you tried a citrus extract pices of candied orange rind would work too) Or you can leave them with out any garnish, still tasty!
Bake in the centre of the oven for 10-15 minutes. This is the trickiest part. Because of the high butter content the bottom browns easily. You’ll have to watch them to know how many minutes is required for your oven. I find if they brown too much they seem very dry. (You might notice that my oven is set at 340 F, the cookies took 13 minutes at that temperature. At 350 F the bottoms browned before the centres were cooked, possibly due to it being a gas stove?).
These are great cookies for Santa to enjoy with a glass of milk!
I Am with you always 