5 Simple Ingredients = Super Yummy Shortbread

June 19, 2014 by Laurie Nguyen 6 Comments

Cookies…  While I’m not a big dessert person, I certainly enjoy a good brownie or cookie from time to time.  One of my all-time favs is a simple, butter shortbread cookie.  Yesterday, I needed to make some treats for a BBQ, so I decided to make some delicious shortbread.  What better way to have a cookie or two without being tempted to eat the entire batch over the next 24 hours!  I used Ina Garten’s recipe (found here).  I followed it pretty closely, except for shaping the cookies.   Ina suggested rolling out the dough and using a “finger shaped” cookie cutter.  I don’t have one of those, so I opted to go a simpler route. Take a look at my photo step-by-step to see it.

 

This simple recipe calls for only 5 simple ingredients: butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, and all-purpose flour.

 

I took the butter out of the fridge about an hour before making the cookies to allow it to come to room temperature. Then, I put the butter and sugar into my stand mixer and mixed until they were just combined.

 

Next, I added the vanilla and mixed that into the butter/sugar mixture.

 

Finally, I added the salt and flour and mixed until everything was well combined. The mixture was a bit crumbly, but that is just fine. It’s perfect, in fact.

 

I laid out two long pieces of plastic wrap on my kitchen counter and dumped the dough on to them. You can really see how crumbly the dough is in this picture. But don’t worry! It really is exactly how it’s supposed to be.

 

I formed a rough “log” shape out of the dough.

 

Then, I wrapped the dough in the plastic wrap and smoothed the surface of the “log.” Next, I put it into the fridge for 30 minutes.

 

After a little over 30 minutes, I removed the dough from the fridge, unwrapped it, and cut it into 1/2 cookies using a sharp knife. You can use a butter knife, but they can flatten the dough a bit. I find a sharp knife cuts without flattening the dough.

 

I put the cookies on a cookie sheet and baked the cookies for about 20 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.

 

When they started to turn golden brown, I removed them from the oven.

 

I let them cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring the cookies to a cooling rack. I put my cookies a bit too close together (because I didn’t want to use a second cookie sheet), so I had to cut them before I removed them from the cookie sheet. But it was very easy since the cookies were still warm.

 

And, Voila! I had delicious shortbread cookies!

 

So yummy!  So simple!

What’s your favorite simple go-to treat?

 

Laurel Laurie Staten Nguyen Newhall, CA