Vanilla Bean Short Bread Cookies

A new twist to an old traditional favourite! Short Breads are light buttery cookies and not over powering sweet. This recipe makes the most delightful melt in your mouth treat with the added sophisticated joys that fresh vanilla bean bring to not only your taste buds but your nose as well. Oh they are also cute...sensory overload! This is my Go-To cookie for this Christmas. Quick, easy and oh so lovely! Leave them plain or garnish them with chocolate and cherry, Vanilla Bean Short Breads are sure to impress the pickiest of the cookie connoisseur in your house.

overview

• Prep Time: 20 minute
• Total Time: 1 hours
• Makes: 24

ingredients

½ cup cornstarch   

½  cup powdered sugar   

1  cup flour   

¾ cup  softened butter 

½ of a Vanilla bean

garnish:

12 maraschino cherries, halved
½ cup semi sweet chocolate, chopped
1 tsp. vegetable shortening

directions

Sift together the cornstarch, icing (powdered) sugar and flour. 

Blend in butter until a soft smooth dough forms.

Split vanilla bean with a sharp knife. Scrape the inside of bean, removing all the seed. Blend the scrapings into the dough.

Using a lightly floured parchment sheet and a floured rolling pin roll out dough. About ¼" thick.

Place dough flat in the fridge to chill 30 minutes.

Remove from fridge, using small cookie cutters cut out your desired shapes. Re-roll scrap dough (it should still be cool enough to hold a nice sharp edge when cut), cut out as many cookies as you can.

Carefully place 1 ½" apart on a cookie sheet, I use a pastry knife to lift the shaped dough.

If garnishing with cherries, place half a cherry on top of each cookie.

Bake 300°F for 12-15 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool.

If you want your cookies to have that extra wow you will need to top it with chocolate! Using a  double boiler place chocolate and shortening. Stir occasionally until melted and smooth. Moving your cooled cookies back onto parchment  for easy clean up, drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookies using a spoon or fork. Remember these are a very light cookie, do not be tempted to over coat the cookie with chocolate, it will overpower the vanilla flavour.

Store in an air tight container with a piece of wax paper between layers. These cookies freeze well, staying nice for up to 2 months.

tips & tricks

Watch that they don't brown, you want to pull them out while they still look a slightly underdone - the idea is that they do not brown on the bottom.