Alice Bay Cookbook: Shortbread Cutouts

This is my best cookie recipe of all time. They would go very nicely with the yogurt cheese and strawberries that are on our table these days.

Shortbread Cutouts

1 cup butter
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour

350 degrees

Cream butter. Add sugar. Add flour. Roll to about 1/4 inch. Cut into shapes. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool.

What makes these cookies so special, aside from having only 3 ingredients?

• The dough is very forgiving which is especially nice if you are teaching a young 'un how to roll and cut cookies.
• The cookies are not very sweet so they are very pleasant companions to fruit or specialty teas; I favor Murchies even though they do that silly thing with "Chai Tea" (chai means tea).
• The cookies are absolutely delicious. Just don't think about the butter.

Now then, I flat-out lifted the recipe from the Alice Bay Cookbook which, though out-of-print, is available used at Amazon and if you are going to buy one cookbook this year, this should be it. Besides, it is available used for only $1.48. Anyway, this cookbook is the source of many of our other family favorites, most of them featuring ingredients that are local to Cascadia, which goes along nicely with my new Locavore dabblings.

:: this post is included in the June Recipe Roundup hosted at Simply A Musing Blog.