Shortbread cookies

LJ and I have been talking about making shortbread cookies for a couple of months now and finally got around to it.  Honestly I have no idea what inspired us and I wasn't even sure if I'd ever eaten shortbread before making these.  A couple of things came together so we could finally try our hand at making these cookies.

A few weeks ago we hit up a handful of estate sales looking for vintage fabric for LJ's sewing stash.  LJ spotted a jelly roll pan at one of the sales which is something that had been on my kitchen wishlist for sometime so we picked it up for a few bucks.  Shortly after that we made a trip to Winco Foods to stock up on staples in their excellent bulk foods section.  In the bulk section they have basic recipe cards near the necessary ingredients and LJ grabbed the card for shortbread cookies.  At that point we had everything we needed.

Shortbread is a very simple type of cookie though if you look online there can be quite a bit of variety in the ingredient list.  Since this was my first experience I can't speak to what ingredients are more or less essential for the best shortbread, other than a lot of butter being a requirement.

The dough I made only included butter, sugar, corn starch, salt and flour.  It all came together quickly in the Kitchen Aid mixer and then I fit it in to my newly acquired jelly roll pan using a rolling pin to spread it out evenly.

After baking the cookies until they were just browning on top I cut them in to rectangular cookies.  When I make these again I think I would try cutting the cookies first to try to promote more even baking.

I melted some dark chocolate chips in a double boiler and spread a small amount on to each cookie as they cooled.

The recipe made a lot of cookies and they managed to last a week or so even though I was eating two or three after every meal.  I'm not sure if they will replace chocolate chip as my preferred cookie but the simplicity of the ingredient list makes them a definite contender.