Stamped Christmas Shortbread
Servings
16
Servings
16
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In a food processor, pulse the cornstarch, powdered sugar & flour until combined. With the processor running, drop in the pieces of butter, one at a time. Pulse a few times until evenly distributed. Add vanilla & cinnamon extracts. Process just until the dough comes together and sticks together in a ball.
  2. Note: if you don’t have a food processor, you can make the dough in a bowl, using a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture. Then use your hands to work in the liquid until it comes together into a dough.
  3. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, & refrigerate for 20 minutes.
  4. Divide the dough into 16 equal portions. Roll each portion between your hands to shape a ball & LIGHTLY dust each ball of dough in flour. Place the dough balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
  5. Dip a cookie stamp in flour, then tap off the excess. Center the stamp over a ball of dough, then firmly (but lightly) press down on the dough, until it flattens slightly & spreads out all the way to the edge of the stamp. Carefully pull the dough off the stamp & set onto the baking sheet. If needed, use a round or scalloped cookie cutter to trim off the uneven edges. Save scraps.
  6. Repeat pressing all the cookies, dipping the stamp in flour & tapping off the excess in between each. Gather up all the scraps from the trimmed edges, roll into a ball, dust in flour & press one more cookie, for a total of 16 cookies.
  7. Leave the cookies plain or decorate with colored non-perils. Alternately, you could roll the cookie balls in colored sugar before stamping.
  8. Place all the stamped cookies about 1 inch apart on the baking sheet. Set the baking sheet in the refrigerator & chill the pressed cookies for 1 hour. Chilling the dough prior to baking ensures that the dough maintains its shape in the oven & doesn’t spread.
  9. Preheat the oven to 300 F.
  10. Bake the chilled cookies on the center oven rack for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.
  11. Cool the cookies ON the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer them to a cooling rack.