15 minute shortbread cookies

As quick to make as they are to disappear!

I love this recipe because I live in a house full of cookie thieves. Not the kind of people who drain the cookie jar on the kitchen counter at an alarming rate; the kind who sneak into the basement freezer and empty the tins tucked away there. My husband taught the kids to whisper ‘cold cookies’ almost before they could walk; it was years before they understood that the proper name for these sneaky treats was shortbread. So, I give you this recipe just in case you go to your freezer on Christmas Eve and discover the stash you had set aside for Santa has mysteriously disappeared. You’ll have that plate filled in 15 minutes – or less!

Ingredients

• 1 cup (250 mL) soft butter
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) icing (confectioners’) sugar
• 1/4 cup (60 mL) cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) vanilla extract

Method

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• Put all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
• Whip together with a stand or hand-held electric mixer until the batter is smooth and fluffy (almost like stiff whipped cream). This should take about 3 minutes.
• Drop from a cookie scoop or two teaspoons onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. You can leave them mounded or gently press them flat with your fingertips.
• Bake 8 – 10 minutes or just until they are barely beginning to turn golden around the edges.
• Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.