Prime Cuts

Oatmeal, chocolate chip, peanut butter, snickerdoodle, macaroon, madeleine, and macadamia nut; all are considered cookie royalty looking down on lesser cookies such as the Shortbread. This well known peasant craves attention, deliberation, discussion, and consideration. It was my goal to help the Shortbread cookie dethrone it’s lofty, regal aristocrats from their luxurious residence of cookie greatness.

Shortbread cookies never get the credit they deserve, they’re simple to make but are often very dry and sometimes lack flavor making them crumbling, tasteless, cardboard squares.

But with a slight change to the most basic recipe and paired with a Brazilian coffee the flavors balance well allowing you to enjoy each individually yet with an embraced sense that all is right with the world. Sometimes relegating to simplicity is worth the questions you might be asked by serving “only shortbread cookies.” There is something nostalgic and sophisticated about breaking the shortbread cookie into your mouth as the foundation and building on top of it by drinking a smooth, full-bodied coffee.

That’s the best part about shortbread and coffee, you can serve it plain and fancy, or you can serve it together with ice cream sandwiched in between two cookies making a fun adventure for your guests, or kids, without the coffee obviously.

The recipe is simple so have fun with it and add additional ingredients like pecans, lemon peel, or brown sugar.

Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

Makes 12 large cookies
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Combine flour and sugar; with pastry blender cut butter in until it looks like crumbs and clings.
3. Knead until smooth, form into ball.
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick.
5. Using a knife cut into twelve large rectangles.
6. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. (Score the cookies if you want it fancy, we made a quilt pattern)
7. Bake for 25 minutes

Enjoy!

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