Surprisingly, I have never actually made holiday cookies before. I’ve made all kinds of things, such as cake, chocolate chip cookies, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and rice pudding. Somehow, though, I’ve gone my whole youth without feeling the joy of making homemade holiday cookies.
Of course, now that I have experienced it there was no way I could go any longer without sharing it with you. Isn’t that what the holidays are about? Spreading joy.
As always, I try to find the easiest recipes for you guys because if you are anything like me, anything more complicated will end up with your kitchen in disarray and the fire department being called. Okay, enough of the pleasantries. Let us get into what you came here for: Shortbread cookies.
Ingredients:
- Half a pound of unsalted butter, at room temperature (227 grams).
- ½ cup and a tablespoon of White sugar (112 grams).
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (4.2 grams).
- 2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour ( 300 grams)
Tools:
- One large bowl or an automatic whisker
- A whisk or fork
- Measuring cups or a scale
- A butter knife
- And baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Rolling pin.
- Cookie cutters (optional).
First, you are going to want to cut the butter into slices and place in a large bowl. If the butter is not already at room temperature, you can place it into the microwave for 5-7 second intervals until soft. When doing this, you are going to want to constantly check on the butter to make sure that it is not melted. However, if slightly melted or too soft don’t worry, it won’t have a huge impact on the cookies.
After placing the butter into a bowl, put the sugar in with it and mix until combined for a soft mixture. Make sure to pay attention to the add the correct amount of each ingredient. I accidentally had a mishap with the sugar where I put 300 grams of sugar instead of 112 grams. This led me to starting over, and my mom got mad about wasting ingredients.
Once the 112 grams of sugar is fully combined with the butter mix in the vanilla extract into the mixture, slowly incorporate the flour into the mix. Only placing a cup or less at a time, making sure to mix softly in between each cup. Try not to stir too harshly, or else the cookies will come out less tender.
Now that you have your dough, roll it into a round disk, similar to if you were making pie crust. Use the rolling pin to make it flat. If you do not want to put the dough directly onto your kitchen counter, then you can place parchment paper and roll it on top of there.
Time for the fun part, cutting the dough into shapes! If you, like me, do not have a bunch of cookie cutters lying around then feel free to just use a butter knife and make whatever shapes you like. Hopefully, your shapes come out better than mine.
Put the cut cookies into the fridge for 15- 20 minutes to help the shape solidify. Use this time to preheat your oven to 325°F or 163°C and to clean up your cooking area.
All that is left is to pop the cookies into the oven for 15- 20 minutes (until slightly golden on the top). Once that is all done, you can enjoy the cookies just as they are, or if your feeling more fancy, you can get some store bought frosting and decorate them. Enjoy and have fun!
