Short Bread Cookies

Hello everyone ! How are your Christmas preparations going on ? Most of you might be already set with an X'mas tree and other decorations. I thought of making some baked goodies for the holiday season and started with this simple cookie. Short bread cookies are traditionally known as a Christmas cookies and is quite versatile. You could turn it into a pecan/almond short bread cookie or X'mas sugar cookie or whatever your imagination leads you :-)Those who are calorie conscious may not prefer this Scotch cookies,because these cookies are really rich with butter as a main ingredient and if you replace butter with some other fat you cannot call it a short bread cookie. But I am sure about one thing, this will just melt away in your mouth and it is hard to stop munching on these utterly butterly cookies :D



Ingredients

All purpose flour- 2cups
Butter (at room temperature)-1 cup
Salt- a pinch
Confectioner's sugar-1/2 cup
Vanilla extract- 1 tsp




Method

1.Beat the butter until fluffy using a handmixer, for 3-4 minutes
2.To this add the sugar and beat well for 2-3 minutes.
3.Mix in the salt and vanilla extract
4.Fold in the flour mixture.
5.Flatten the dough and wrap it in a plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour
6.Preheat oven to 350 degree F and line two baking trays with parchment paper
7.Flour a surface where you are planning to roll the dough.
8.Make small balls of dough and flatten it using the bottom of a glass.Use a cookie cutter or use a steel utensil (Like I did)to get a perfect shape.The ideal thickness is 1/4 inch. Prick them with a fork
9.Arrange them on the parchment paper leaving some space in between and chill them again for 10-15 minutes.
10.Bake for 9-10 minutes or till the cookies start turning to a golden brown color



Notes
1. You could roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter to cut it into desired shapes.
2.I did this in 2 batches, because I was slow since I was multitasking (I have a 17 month old lil monster) and I got ~25 cookies, but some of them were small
3.You could store the cookies in an airtight container for a couple of weeks.

[Recipe adapted from:Joy of Baking]

Contributor :Namitha