Orange Shortbread Cookies
I love twitter. I read some of the most interesting stories linked from there. Recently, NPR posted a story about shortbread cookies. It is a sweet story Orange Shortbread Cookies from recent NPR story http://www.npr.org/2013/12/06/249277869/a-tale-of-two-cookies-the-brass-sisters-holiday-shortbread]) and since I have always like shortbread cookies anyway, I copied the recipe to try. These are even better than the story says.
Orange Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
½ cup sugar
? teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
grated zest of one orange (I used clementine zest)
1 teaspoon orange extract
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Spray a 9×9 inch baking pan with vegetable oil spray
Cream together butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the orange zest and orange extract and continue mixing until blended. Add the salt and the flour ½ cup at a time. Mix until completely blended. You may need to complete the blending process with your hands to make sure all the ingredients are completely mixed together.
Press the dough into the greased 9×9 pan. Press down the edges with a fork (or your fingers) and prick the top of the dough evenly 20-25 times (this is optional).
Bake for 35 minutes until the top is slightly golden. Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes and then carefully turn out onto a piece of parchment paper to cool completely.
Cut the shortbread into squares (I made mine 1 inch x 1 inch so I ended up with 36 cookies). These are very rich so small cookies are good.