Shortbread Cookies and Hayrides

If I didn't know what it would do to me, I would eat shortbread all day long.

The pink cookies are frosted with vanilla-flavored icing, the yellows are frosted with almond-flavored icing, and the others are left naked for Bobby, because he is less gluttonous than I am.

I saw this recipe on 101 cookbooks and had an instant craving, and since I had a hayride and potluck that evening, I had the perfect opportunity to fill that craving and divvy out the rest in hopes of keeping my pregnancy weight gain down this month. It probably didn't work. Might as well make that cheesecake I've been dreaming about...

Anyway, my friend Erin brought iced shortbread cookies, a family favorite of hers, to a cooking club we had few years ago. So I decided to make the shortbread cookie recipe below and borrowed her recipe for icing.


Shortbread Cookies (adapted from 101 cookbooks)
adapted makes me laugh- the only thing I changed was I didn't use a vanilla bean.

4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 pound unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a mixing bowl beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and beat again, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl once or twice as you are mixing. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture in two additions. Stir until everything comes together into a thick dough.

Turn the dough out onto a countertop and divide into two pieces, there is quite a bit of dough, so cutting it into two pieces just makes it easier to roll out later on. Press each piece of dough out into a flat patty an inch thick. Wrap each piece in plastic and chill completely in the refrigerator - about thirty minutes. When the dough is chilled, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out 1/4-1/2-inch thick. Cut the dough into desired shapes using cookie cutters or a knife and place on a parchment (or Silpat) lined baking sheet.

Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies are barely golden.

Erin's icing:

2-2 1/2 c powdered sugar
1/2 c oil
1 stp. almond extract (or 2 tsp vanilla extract
4 T milk
Food coloring

Mix well and add a little more milk or sugar for good consistency.

These cookies really hit the spot! Here's some pictures from the hayride. We had a great time!