Shortbread Cookies

These are supposed to be red and white candy cane cookies, but I made them for birthday cookies for some friends and wrote their names out. With my extra dough, I made some for my husband to have as snacks while studying for law school finals. Like my message?! They look kind of bad because I did them fast, but they are fun for something a little different!

Here is what the recipe I adapted had for a picture:

Prep Time: 30-40 minutes
Bake time: 13 minutes
Yield: about 4 dozen

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract (or peppermint, or whatever you want!)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt

Optional toppings include, but are not limited to:

• -crushed peppermint hard candies
• -white sugar
• 
  

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, combine butter, confectioners' sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth. Mix in flour and salt.
3. Roll into 4 inch strips, place on baking sheet. Curve top down to form handle of cane.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes. While still warm, remove from pan and sprinkle with toppings. I just used white sugar.

Coloring: I colored half my dough blue and half pink, just for fun. I rolled each color into a 6 inch strip (for letters) and then rolled the two color strips into one strip. Then I twisted it together. Experiment and see how you like it to look!