Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Star Shortbread Cookies


Shortbread Cookies are traditional Christmas cookies. The simplicity of the recipe appeals to me. Few ingredients and easy to make. Also they are so soft they could just melt in your mouth. So that gives me a good reason to bake them around Christmas. But these cookies you could eat any time of the year, especially in our house. Since I make Heart Shortbread cookies for Valentine's day. I make Star Shortbread cookies for Christmas. But when it comes to these cookies you could just be limited by your imagination.

On this sweet note , Wishing Everyone Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Ingredients :

  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

** Adding cornstarch to this recipe makes these cookies more tender and melt in your mouth soft. Also I did take the liberty of checking out the reason why. Here it goes- Adding cornstarch lowers the gluten content of the dough and this makes these cookies a little more soft.

Preparation :

  1. PreHeat the Oven to 325 degress F.
  2. Line the baking sheets with Parchment paper.
  3. Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt into a bowl and keep aside.
  4. Now in a large bowl, beat the butter, powdered sugar and Vanilla until creamy and smooth for a minute. ( I do it by hand but you could use an electric mixer on medium speed).
  5. Now slowly add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture. Keep mixing till the flour mixture is well incorporated and it forms large clumps. Knead it into a dough.
  6. Flatten the dough into a disk shape. Depending upon the counter space you have t0 roll the dough, feel free to divide the dough into 2 or 4 disk shapes.
  7. Lightly flour the rolling surface and rolling pin. Roll the disk to a 1/4 inch thickness. Using a star shaped cookie cutter ,cut out the stars.
  8. Carefully transfer them to the prepared baking sheets and space them about 1 inch apart
  9. Bake them for about 18 - 20 minutes or until the cookies are lightly brown .
  10. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
  11. This recipe makes about 30 shortbread cookies. You could store them at room temperature in a tightly covered container for up to 4 days. They could also be frozen and they are good for several months.

20 comments:

  1. looks so good and perfect..nice...happy holidays and happy xmas to you and your family..

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  2. Lovely star cookies,perfect in shape......Merry X'mas .....

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  3. Wow thats looking so perfect.. lovely looking shortbread cookies...

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  4. Fantastic photograph.. Really tempting cookies. :) The star shape makes it a lot interesting :)

    I have a microwave at home and not an OTG. So I am really finding it hard to bake. The timings and stuff are really not easy to get a hold of. Will try to get an OTG sometime and try all this. :)

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  5. Dear Dolly
    I am just marveling at your great baking skills!!!
    Great photo and the instructions are very detailed. I like that.
    Have a nice weekend

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  6. Wow, perfect shortbread cookies.

    Chitchat

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  7. Wow! looks lovely.Wishing you and your family a very Happy & prosperous New Year.

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  8. Looks so cute, dear!!!!...perfect and tempting cookies!

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  9. so cute and perfect cookies..looks so yummy..

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  10. lovely cookies!! Yummy :)

    Happy Holidays!!

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  11. You really are a baking star! What baked goodies you come up with day after day, its just amazing! These look delicious :)

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  12. I made a similar cookie recipe just the other day! Yours look like they turned out much better though! I think I cut them a little too thin :( I love your baking recipes!

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  13. Your cookies look beautiful. Great picture too!

    I hope you had a wonderful holiday,
    Alicia

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  14. Lovely & perfect they look..... Delightful Christmas treat.... I would love to tie them up on the tree too...... as it would only add that extra zing to my tree...

    Yummy Delightful delicacy...

    Happy Celebrations!!!!

    Ash...
    (http://asha-oceanichope.blogspot.com/)

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  15. Looks so cute and pretty..Fabulous dear...

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  16. This short bread cookies looks good' perfect for X-mas...must be a great hit:)

    Merry Christmas...hope you had a good time:) Enjoy your holidays.:)

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  17. Hey dolly perfect cookies for christmas...merry christmas to u n ur family...happy holidays 2

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  18. Adding cornstarch is a nice idea..The cookies have come out so perfect and lovely...Saw the comment in which you were saying that you are late...it is perfectly alright..See, I've also missed this post and I know that during the holidays we all will be too busy with many things :-) No worries :D

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