In the winter around January and February, there are several things that I look forward to. Drinking hot chocolate while enjoying a fire in the living room when it’s cold outside, the down time after the holidays to relax and take it easy, Super Bowl parties…and Girl Scout Cookies. Seriously, because I absolutely LOVE the shortbread cookies. Those are the ones that I always get. Not really sure what it is about them, but I think they’re heavenly. And to be honest, I don’t make a lot of cookies at my house, and I’ll tell you why… Cookies are my nemesis. I don’t know how many times I’ve passed through the kitchen and there’s been cupcakes, muffins, brownies, cakes, trifles, puddings, pies…sitting there, all trying to taunt me. But, I walk by and ignore them. The cookies? Well, not so much. I really don’t know what it is about cookies, but when I make my chocolate chip cookies or the white chocolate macademia nut cookies, I end up saying, “Just one more…” and five cookies later, I’m mad at myself for eating so many and end up with a tummy ache. It’s a viscious cycle. Although, I do feel like it’s inevitable that I still make cookies, because I love them and like to see what else can be experimented with. And now that I know how to make ridiculously delicious shortbread cookies in my own kitchen, really not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing…
While making these, I was a little bit nervous about how they would turn out, since this was literally my first time making roll-out cookies. Anytime I’ve made cookies before, they were just drop cookies (meaning I just dropped them by the dough onto the baking stone to bake). This wasn’t bad though, and since I’ve been watching a lot of cooking shows lately, it was time to give it a shot. I ended up taking a bite of a cookie after they cooled so that I could make sure the flavor was where it needed to be…and it was. Then came the fun part…drizzling them with melted chocolate in my little squirt bottles. Had a little too much fun doing that one, and I also ended up eating some of the hardened chocolate scraps that were left over on the parchment paper…then quickly yelled at myself for doing that and crumbled up the paper to throw it in the trash. Should probably go ahead and take the trash out, just for safety measures. Speaking of safety measures, after I finished off my cookie with the drizzled chocolate and mumbling incoherently about how yummy it was, getting these suckers out of the house is a MUST. So, I’ve already packed up some for family members, friends and neighbors, and getting them out of the house ASAP before I come hunting for any more when no one’s looking…
Shortbread Cookies Recipe:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces dark chocolate wafers
4 ounces white chocolate wafers
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes. Roll the dough 1/2-inch thick and cut with a 3 by 1-inch finger-shaped cutter. Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature. When the cookies are cool, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Melt dark chocolate in microwave in 15 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until melted. Transfer to squirt bottle, then drizzle on top of cookies. Repeat same process with white chocolate. Store cookies in airtight container after chocolate has hardened.
