Holiday Baking Part 2: Sugar Cookies & Shortbread

I love baking sugar cookies and it has only become more fun (and a little more stressful) since my little one likes to help me make them.  It's easy to roll out the dough and cut  out the shapes, but I have to learn to give up some control when I bake with my little one otherwise it becomes very stressful.

Shortbread is another great recipe and really easy to come together because you can just press the dough into the pan instead of letting it rest as you would with the sugar cookies.

Sugar Cookies:
I've played around with different sugar cookie recipes, and this was the one I turned to today: from my Williams Sonoma cookie cookbook.

Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Using an electric mixer on high speed, cream the butter until fluffy and pale.  Add the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating on low speed for 2 minutes after each addition. Beat the egg yolk and vanilla into the butter mixture until well blended.

The cookies got a little darker than we liked,
but they still tasted good!

2. Sift the flour and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper.  Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed or stir with a wooden spoon just until blended.

3. Scrape the dough onto a work surface and divide into 4 equal portions.  Shape into disks, wrap into plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

4. Preheat the oven to 350F.  Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line with with parchment paper.

5. Remove the dough disks from the fridge and let stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes.  Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out between 2 sheets of waxed paper to a thickness of about 1/8-1/4".  Using cookie cutters, cut into shapes.  Repeat with remaining dough portions, then gather up the scraps and re-roll.  If the scraps of dough have become sticky, refrigerate for 10 minutes before re-rolling.

6. Transfer the cookies to the prepared pans.  Sprinkle with coloured sugar.  (If you are dusting with icing sugar or drizzling with chocolate, wait till the cookies are baked.  Sprinkle with sugar while still warm.)

Traditional Shortbread

7. Bake the cookies until they are lightly golden on the bottom, 10-12 minutes.  Let the cookies cool briefly on the pans on wire racks before transferring them to the racks to cool completely.

Shortbread:
Today I tried a new shortbread recipe, from Anna Olson's book Back to Baking.

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown or white rice flour
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 375F and grease an 8" square pan.

2. Beat the butter for 2 minutes to make it fluffy and light.  Add the icing sugar and sugar then beat again for 2 minutes, until fluffy, then beat in the vanilla.

3. Sift the flour, rice flour, and salt, then add to the wet ingredients, stirring until evenly blended.

4. Scrape the dough into the prepared pan and press it flat into the bottom of the pan.  Use a fork to dock the shortbread at 1" intervals.  You can also score the dough to make it easier to cut if you like.

5. Bake the shortbread for about 25 minutes, until the outside edges have browned a little.

6. Let it cool for 10 minutes, then cut into squares.  Allow the cookies to cool completely before lifting them out of the pan to store.  The shortbread will keep in an airtight container for up to 10 days.

You can also drizzle the shortbread with some melted semi-sweet chocolate for an extra flavour boost.

The finished product: cookies, shortbread and fudge
ready for our many holiday visits!