This soft and chewy shortbread cookies recipe can be made as one dough 4 ways. Add M&Ms, dip them in chocolate, or make shortbread thumbprint cookies all from one recipe!
Okay you guys, I have a confession to make: I bought a fake Christmas tree. *shocking*
Throughout my entire adult life I have said I would NOT EVER buy a fake tree, NO NOT EVER. I would ALWAYS get a fresh and pine-smelling tree. I have loathed fake Christmas trees pretty much my entire life, probably because every other year we used one when I was a kid and the fake trees from the 70s were not like the ones you get today. That tree was more like a Charley Brown Christmas tree than a real one.
So what changed my mind? A friend and I were chatting and she was talking about putting up her tree early and how they have a fake tree and the lights are already on it and it’s up and decorated in mere minutes. And suddenly all my reasons for hating fake trees started to seem weak.
When Jordan was a baby we’d go to the Christmas tree farm and cut down our own tree, cups of hot chocolate in hand. Then we got a little lazy and discovered that Home Depot had great trees so we’d venture there instead. Then we got rid of our truck and we started having to strap the thing to the top of the car as well as drag it in and make a huge mess of needles. The entire month would be a battle of remembering to water the darn thing and wondering if it would fall over (it did, one and a half times). Then the clean up and the needles I’d find well into April. Also, did I mention that fake trees come with the lights on already? That’s the absolute worst part of tree trimming, right? The lights?
I asked Mel, figuring he’d be anti-fake tree. “It’s okay with me if it’s okay with Jordan,” he said.
I trepidatiously approached Jordan and asked her. “Does that mean we can put it up now?” she asked. “If so, then YES!”
So I did it. I bought a tree, on sale, at Lowe’s. And it was up before Thanksgiving. (In my defense, I wasn’t hosting, so it didn’t matter that we skipped Thanksgiving decor.)
Now I can sip my wine and look at my gorgeous 600 LED bulb Christmas tree…and change the color from white to multicolored with the click of the foot pedal.
Technology is amazing.
So are shortbread cookies, especially when the dough is one recipe you can make four different ways!
This recipe started in my mind last year when I made these cookies. Those were from a mix, but it’s a mix I absolutely adore. The problem is: you can only get it at the holidays. What if I want shortbread cookies in March? Sure, I have a shortbread cookie recipe, but it wasn’t like that mix. I can’t really explain the difference except to say the mix results in a cookie that’s soft and chewy and shortbread all at the same time, whereas normal shortbread cookies are more like a sugar cookie in texture. I wanted a cross between a drop sugar cookie and a shortbread cookie recipe…and that’s what these are.
It only took me three tries, but I got them PERFECT. They melt in your mouth, are soft and chewy at the same time, and so buttery they’ll make you cry tears of powdered sugar. How did I do that: a combination of butter and oil (the oil gives them that chewy soft texture I was looking for) as well as using powdered sugar instead of granulated (less spread, because powdered sugar has cornstarch in it). Also, these have no eggs and no leavening!
Once I got them perfect I started thinking…there are SO MANY ways to use this recipe. I mean, that picture above is pretty, but basic shortbread cookies are a little boring. Where are the sprinkles, the chocolate, the frosting? And that got me to thinking…why not show the ways I can use this cookie dough?
It’s one cookie recipe you can turn into 4 different cookies all at once or in different batches. Basically, this one recipe can satisfy all your holiday platters in one fell swoop!
Okay, so are you ready for the different ways to make these cookies? Okay, let’s start with my favorite:
The post Soft & Chewy Shortbread Cookies (1 dough 4 ways) appeared first on Crazy for Crust.
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