The Rus’s Shortbread

1. This recipe works best if you beat the dough with electric beaters. If you have a stand mixer, set it aside for this recipe.
2. Make sure the cookie dough is cold before you put it in the oven. If your house is quite warm, put the cookie dough in the fridge to chill it before you bake the cookies.
3. Don’t skimp on the 10 minutes it takes to beat the dough. See it through the full 10 minutes.
4. Use salted butter. This has nothing to do with making the softest shortbread cookies, but it will make the tastiest ones.

2 cups butter, very soft (I use salted, but unsalted works, too)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup cornstarch
3 cups all-purpose flour
Coloured candied cherries or dried cranberries, for garnish
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease three baking sheets.
Using a hand-held electric mixer (see notes), cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla until very creamy. Gradually beat in the cornstarch and flour. Continue to beat the batter until it looks like slightly over-beaten whipped cream, about 10 minutes. I always set a timer for 10 minutes as it feels like a long time.
Drop the batter by heaping tablespoons (or 3 level tablespoons, to be exact) onto the prepared cookie sheets. Add a colored cherry or dried cranberry in the center of each cookie. Note: if you don’t have 3 cookie sheets wait until you remove the baked cookies from one and it cools completely. Putting the cookie sheets outside in the cold winter weather cools them down very quickly.

Bake the cookies for approximately 15 minutes. You can bake two sheets at once, turning them halfway through. Remove the cookies from the oven just as they start to brown on the bottoms.
Let the shortbread cookies cool on the cookie sheet for at least 10 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to finish cooling. Do be careful when moving them as they will fall apart if you transfer them too soon.
NOTES
I have always used a hand-held electric beater to make these. Based on feedback if you use a stand-mixer the cookies will fall flat. If you want to use your stand mixer, please make sure to reduce the time you mix the batter.

Thank you…. theendlessmeal.com/melt-in-your-mouth-shortbread