Shortbread Cookies
Cookie Batter
1 Cup (226 grams) Salted Butter – room temperature
½ Cup (63 grams) Powdered Sugar
2 Cups (256 grams) All-purpose Flour
To make the cookie dough
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees with a shelf in the middle of the oven. Cover two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of your mixer add the butter. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer, turn the mixer on to slow speed to make sure the butter is softened. Once you know the butter is softened stop the mixer.
3. Using a metal mesh strainer or flour sifter, sift the powdered sugar into the bowl of the mixer. Turn the mixer back on to slow speed and mix long enough to combine the powdered sugar and the softened butter. Once those two ingredients are combined, turn the mixer on to medium high speed for 1 ½ minutes to cream the butter and sugar together. After the first 1 ½ minutes, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the mixer bowl with a rubber spatula. Now turn the mixer back on to medium high and continue to cream the butter and sugar for another 1 ½ minutes. The butter and sugar mixture should now be lighter and fluffier.
4. Now add the all-purpose flour to the bowl of you mixer and mix on slow speed for 2 minutes to get the dough to form a ball. You can pack the dough into a ball using your hands once the flour is combined.
5. Place the finished ball of dough on a lightly floured work surface. I use a silicone mat for this step.
6. Using your fingertips, press the dough ball down into a square that is about 5 inches by 5 inches. Lightly dust the top of the dough with some more flour. Make sure that you are dusting the work surface and dough lightly when you dust with flour. You do not want to add too much flour into the dough as you are rolling it out.
7. Using a rolling pin, slowly roll the dough out so that it is ¼ of an inch thick.
8. Use a 2 ¾ inch cookie cutter to cut the cookies into circles. You can actually use any shape you want for this step. The shape you are using will impact how many cookies the recipe will yield.
9. Using a spatula, carefully move the cutout cookies to the prepared cookie sheet leaving about 1 inch on each side between the cookies.
10. Bake the cookies in a 350 degree oven on the middle shelf for 18 minutes. After 18 the cookies should have a golden brown color. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and place the cookie sheet on a cooling rack for about ten minutes to allow the pan and cookies to cool enough so that you can handle them.
11. Transfer the cookies directly to a cooling rack and allow them to completely cool.
12. Pick up the scraps of dough with your hands after you cut the first set of cookies out. Using your hands, force the dough back into a ball. Repeat steps 5 through 11 until all of the dough has been made into cookies.