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.

Peanut Butter Cookies.

Peanut Butter is a very healthy food. It helps reduce risks of heart disease. It is a good source of protein, Vitamins B3 and E, Magnesium,Folate and Dietary fiber. It also has a high content of Resveratrol a substance which is shown to have very strong anti-cancer properties.

Knowing how healthy a single ingedient could be I'm curious to use it in as many recipes as I can.

Today's recipe is a super easy one. Its quick and can be made with ingredients available in your pantry.

Best of all this recipe does not require flour.

Ingredients:

1) 1 cup Peanut Butter

2) 1 cup granulated sugar

3) 1 tsp freshly grated ginger

4) 1 egg





Preparation
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2) In a bowl cream together Peanut butter, sugar and ginger. Beat the egg. Blend well into the mixture.

3) Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and flatten slightly.

4) Bake for around 10-12 minutes or until the edges are light brown.

5) Cool for around 5 mins. Enjoy them with a glass of milk.