It's December, and You Know What That Means!

Cookies!!!

We had a mini baking blitz in our kitchen last night... the first in this new (well, not really, it's almost 1 year old!) house. On the menu were 2 apple pies, 1 LARGE pan of our famous apple squares, and my mom's famous shortbread cookies. A tip about these cookies though is to not be tempted to use unsalted butter... they just won't be the same. Trust me on this one. If you're lucky enough to have access to plain old Nielson butter, use it - it's our staple and we have NEVER had a problem, plus it isn't as expensive as some of the cultured, unsalted, organic, free-range, dress-you-in-the-morning fancy-pants types out there. Butter is expensive anyways now, (what's up with that?) so any help along the way cost-wise is perfectly fine with me!

Apologies in advance if you try these cookies and they don't turn out as brilliantly as my mom's do each and every year... I don't know what she does but all her cookies are always better than anyone else's!

Mom’s Shortbread Cookies
1 cup salted butter, softened (NO SUBSTITUTES!!)
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 cups flour

1. Cream butter, egg yolk, and vanilla.
2. Sift icing sugar and flour into the creamed mixture.
3. Mix to combine into a workable dough.
4. Roll out and cut into shapes with cookie cutters.
5. Place cookies onto ungreased cookie sheets.
6. Decorate with sprinkles (Teaghan's favourite), coloured sugar (my favourite), chocolate chips (Andrew's addition) or leave plain (sacrilege!).
7. Bake in a preheated 325F oven for 20 minutes. Cookies should not have much, if any, browning!
8. Let cool completely on sheets.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 94.1
Total Fat: 6.4 g
Cholesterol: 23.1 mg
Sodium: 44.0 mg
Total Carbs: 8.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.2 g
Protein: 1.0 g

Luckily for me I spotted the perfect blogging event for these special gems... FoodBlogga's Eat Christmas Cookies! I love checking back every once in a while to see what new goodies are popping up from all over the globe... I'm always amazed at the creativity abounding in the world!

Enjoy our slightly rude photo of baked-together cookies! They don't spread much at all, so I'm blaming the sister for this one. Happy beginnings of the holidays!