Food,  Uncategorized

New Traditions and a Simple Shortbread Cookie Recipe #GayleaMom

November 27, 2014 /

 

Gay Lea helped us start a new tradition in Christmas baking
Gay Lea helped us start a new tradition in Christmas baking

I have been baking for much of my life. As a child I loved to help bake with my Mom and my Grandma too. And, as a teenager I really enjoyed crafting and sewing, reading and cooking up something random. Betty Crocker’s cookbook and I were well acquainted. In fact, I still make a scrumptious jelly roll. Oddly though, I can’t recall ever having made shortbread cookies. Not once, until now. I recall having this perception that shortbread was hard to make, so we didn’t make it. This year is all about new traditions.We moved to a new house in February and I finally have my dream kitchen. This will be our first Christmas here in this welcoming space. I look forward to building some new traditions. Like choosing where to place the tree, and decorating and tricking the house out with new lights and creating a lovely mantel. And making this super simple shortbread recipe.

Some of you already know my kids love to cook and bake. There’s a lot to be said for cooking with children. They get value from the reading and the math and they take ownership of their meals and their eating when they are contributing to the dish itself. My girls also get sensory feedback from the baking, stirring, egg cracking and measuring. So, this is like my secret weapon when I want to calm one down, or help her ground herself and focus. Let’s just say that right now there is a lot of need for that around here. I am a Gay Lea ambassador this year and next year and I will be using Gay Lea products in a few recipes as the year goes on. As Christmas and holiday baking season is upon us, Gay Lea butter lends itself naturally to a lot of baking recipes. This simple shortbread recipe made with Gay Lea butter is an outrageously good melt in your mouth new tradition. Gay Lea uses only pure and preservative-free cream from 100% Canadian milk produced by Gay Lea’s 1,200 local dairy farmers. Gay Lea butter is made only with cream, that’s one simple ingredient.

shortbread_baking

Can you believe this old hand blender? My gosh. I think I need something heavy duty finally. Maybe I will ask Santa for an actual KitchenAid mixer this year. Beating the butter with this old thing was challenging and took forever. That part wasn’t simple because my kitchen mixing technology is outdated.

shortbread_recipes
Making shortbread for the first time ever. My kids love baking.

Kneading the cookie dough is probably the best part of the entire experience for my kids. Cutting out various shapes also makes them happy. shortbread_recipes

There are so many amazing shortbread cookie recipes on the Gay Lea web site. Did you know you can visit the site for great recipes that can be made with their products. This particular recipe made with Gay Lea butter is amazing. Check their site out for incredible recipes you can make together. Maybe you will start some new traditions this year too! You can also follow Gay Lea on twitter. https://twitter.com/GayLeaFoodsCoop

Have you made shortbread cookies before? Do you have a Christmas cookie recipe you love?

 

Simple Shortbread Cookie Recipe

Paula Schuck
My first ever shortbread try yielded amazing buttery tasty results.
5 from 4 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course Cookies
Cuisine Treats
Servings 3 -4 dozen

Ingredients
  

  • 500 mls of softened Gay Lea unsalted butter
  • 1 tsp of vanilla extract
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 3 cups of all purpose flour
  • 1 cup cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 325.
  • Beat the melted butter until soft.
  • Fold in sugar slowly.
  • Fold in the flour.
  • Add cornstarch and salt and vanilla
  • Keep beating.
  • Move the dough to cutting board dusted in flour.
  • Divide the kneaded balls of dough into 4 or 5 sections and place in your fridge for one hour maximum. (We initially left ours too long. Don't do that.)
  • Making sure that your cutting board is constantly coated in flour you can roll the dough balls out individually (kids do this very well) and begin to cut into shapes. Re - coat the cutting board periodically with flour and place on your hands as well to keep dough from sticking.
  • Careful not to over flour the dough or the shortbread will be dry.
  • Place the cut cookie shapes onto a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
  • You can line the sheet with parchment paper and they won't stick.
  • Let each batch cool a bit and enjoy. You can decorate these or make them fancier, but the taste here is so good they don't really need anything more.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

I am part of the Gay Lea Ambassador Campaign with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with Gay Lea.

Mom of two beautiful active girls, traveller, fitness junkie, social media consultant, and keeper of the sanity.

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