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SnowAngel
09-08-2009, 03:45 PM
I just made these tasty treats over the weekend. I usually make them around the holidays with decorative holiday sprinkles. I guess I got in the fall baking mood due to the weather:) I used fall/halloween cookie cutters. I only had black sprinkles. I need to get orange and brown ones as well. This is Martha Stewart's recipe. She recommends making the icing with food coloring. Might be a good idea if I used orange coloring with black sprinkles. I put the leftover dough in the freezer (at least 3 batches left), so I'll try this out next time.

Here's the recipe:

Makes 4 dozen cookies
These cookies should be very pale in color

3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cornstarch
Royal Icing (see below)

Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in the vanilla.
Sift together the flour and cornstarch. Stir thoroughly into the creamed mixture. Place the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap and form the dough into a flat disk. Wrap the dough and chill it for at least 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut out shapes with a cookie cutter. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes (I had to bake it at least 25 minutes for some reason). Remove from the baking sheets and cool on racks. Decorate with Royal Icing.

Royal Icing:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 egg white (use dried egg whites if you're concerned about safety)
3 or 4 drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice
Food coloring

Mix the sugar, egg white, and lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth and creamy. It should have the consistency of heavy cream (add more sugar if necessary). Add desired food coloring.

MacShirts
09-12-2009, 06:16 AM
This is great! I've been looking for a simple cookie receipe to use so I can teach my neice how to bake :D

SnowAngel
09-23-2009, 02:52 PM
I made them again and this time for the royal icing, instead of egg whites, I used milk (with a dash of vanilla extract). Although the shell didn't harden as nicely as with the egg white, it still tasted pretty good. Just refrigerate the cookies for a couple of hours before eating.

Also, with the next batch, I think I'll use one less stick of butter!

SnowAngel
09-23-2009, 03:50 PM
I also bought orange icing (I couldn't find orange food coloring) and I have chocolate sprinkles - they will make good Halloween cookies!

tinkerbell2
09-23-2009, 07:27 PM
I made them again and this time for the royal icing, instead of egg whites, I used milk (with a dash of vanilla extract). Although the shell didn't harden as nicely as with the egg white, it still tasted pretty good. Just refrigerate the cookies for a couple of hours before eating.

Also, with the next batch, I think I'll use one less stick of butter!

They sound really yummy!!:santa-smiley:

SnowAngel
10-16-2009, 05:45 PM
I wasn't crazy about the orange icing from Betty Crocker. It tasted way too sweet. I can't seem to find orange food coloring. Maybe I should mix red and yellow - does that make orange?

SnowAngel
10-16-2009, 05:45 PM
Also, the orange icing didn't spread as well as the homemade icing. The cookies kept breaking.

littlestar
11-01-2010, 04:57 PM
I love the sound of your shortbread cookies. I'm drooling just thinking about them. I guess I'll have to try making some or I'll be thinking about them all the time. Thanks for sharing your recipe.