Shortbread Sugar Cookies With Icing

QueenJellyBean's Note:

I love shortbread and I like sugar cookies but a cookie that is both...that's heaven! This is the kind of icing that "dries" and makes almost like a candy shell on the cookie. When the icing is dry, store in an airtight container for up to a week. You can also keep the unbaked dough in the fridge for up to a week...but who can resist making these that long? You have to use butter to get the right taste. Sometimes just for a different flavor I add a teaspoon or two of almond extract.

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 48-60

Yield: 4.0 doaen c ...

Cookies

• 2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

Icing

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• food coloring, if desired

Directions:

1. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or generously spray with non stick spray.
2. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, mix butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla and beat until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Add slowly to butter mixture on low speed. Do not overbeat! Only mix until flour is incorporated.
4. Form dough into big ball and place in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Roll out chilled dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutter or you can use a pizza cutter and make squares or rectangles. Another option is to roll into a log and cut 1/4 inch thick slices.
6. Using a spatula, transfer to cookie sheets leaving about 1/2 inch between cookies.
7. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Cool 10 minutes on cookie sheet and then transfer to cooling rack.
8. When cookies are cool, whisk together the icing ingredients and either dip the cookies or spread on cookies. You can smooth the icing with the back of a spoon.
9. These are so good -- you should really double the recipe!

Reviews

[KitchenMadame]

This is a great recipe; the cookies taste fabulous. I have a few suggestions, though: I rolled the dough out onto a well-floured surface, and used a floured rolling pin. I ended up using a lot of flour for this; otherwise, I don't see how I would have been able to transfer the cookies (which I used cutters for) to the baking sheet. Also, the icing was too runny, so I added some more powdered sugar until I got to a consistency I wanted, so it wouldn't run off the cookie. It still created that "shell" on the cookie and they looked (and especially TASTED!) great! So even though I had to change just a *few* things, this recipe gets 5 stars because people RAVED about them!

[Kathyaopp]

Lovely shortbread cookie! Easy to make, I substituted the 2 Tbs of vanilla to 1Tbs vanilla and 1Tbs almond essence, for a lovely flavour.