SHORTBREAD COOKIE DOUGH RECIPE
This simple, buttery cookie dough can carry a wide range of holiday flavors, from nutty to herbal to sweet.
MAKES 16 cookies
TIME: 1 and a half hours
Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 tbsp. coarse sugar (sometimes called sparkling sugar)*
- Preheat oven to 325°. Mix flour, butter, granulated sugar,
and salt in the bowl of a stand or hand mixer on low speed until just
blended. Increase speed to medium and mix until dough is no
longer crumbly and just comes together.
- Press dough evenly into a 9-in. round cake pan. Sprinkle with
coarse sugar.
- Bake until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Cut still-warm shortbread with a fork, tines down, into 16 wedge-shape pieces with shaggy edges. Cool completely, then invert pan onto a work surface and carefully separate cookies.
*Find coarse sugar in the baking aisle.
PER COOKIE 189 Cal., 54% (103 cal.) from fat; 1.7 g protein; 12 g fat (7.3 g sat.); 20 g carbo (0.4 g fiber); 38 mg sodium; 31 mg chol.
Raspberry window shortbreads:
Prepare Shortbread (recipe precedes) through step 1, form into a disk, and chill
30 minutes.
- On a lightly floured work surface, roll dough 1/8 in. thick. Use a selection
of 11/2-in. decorative cutters to cut as many shapes as you can, making sure you
have an equal number of each shape to form a top and a bottom, and rerolling scraps as
needed.
- Arrange cookies 1 in. apart on baking sheets. Use a variety of smaller cutters to remove center from half of cookies (the tops). Chill on sheets 15 minutes; then bake until light golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool.
- Spread each whole cookie with about 1/2 tsp. raspberry preserves.
- Sprinkle powdered sugar over cut-out cookie tops, or glaze them with a mixture of 1 cup powdered sugar and 21/2 tsp. milk. Set tops on jam-topped bottoms. Makes 26.
>> More cookie recipes
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