Vanilla shortbread cookies

It's challenging when the holiday season starts up to not completely forget about the last few things to be done for school and just start in on the holiday goodness. I saw shortbread cookies as a happy compromise--a little taste of the holidays without taking too much time and effort away from the work. I ran across this recipe in Bon Appétit Desserts and couldn't resist trying my hand at one of my favourite types of cookies.

Recipe

from Bon Appétit Desserts
makes about 2 dozen

2 cups all purpose flour
¾ cup powdered sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ tsp salt
1 cup unsalted European-style butter, room temperature
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Sift flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch and salt into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture in 3 additions, mixing until just blended each time. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Roll each half into 6" long log; wrap each log in plastic wrap and chill at least 2 hours.

Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in center of oven and preheat to 325 F. Cut each log crosswise into ⅓" thick slices. Arrange slices on 2 large rimmed baking sheets, spacing 1/2" apart (cookies spread very little). Bake cookies 9 minutes. Switch baking sheets on racks and bake until cookies turn golden brown at edges, about 9 minutes longer. Cool cookies on sheets 1 minute. Transfer to a rack and cool.

Musings

All in all, I was very pleased with how they turned out. They definitely had the flavour and texture I remember. And they were surprisingly straightforward to make. Also, disturbingly addictive, as it's easy to scarf down two or three cookies without even realizing it. A solid recipe definitely worth making again.