Fairy Bite Shortbread Cookies

    With such a whimsical name, these tiny shortbread cookies are so much fun! They'd be an adorable snack for little kids. I made these over the weekend for a baby's first birthday party! They're so super easy and so cute!

Fairy Bite Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, at room temperature 

- 1/4 cup of granulated sugar

- 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

- 1 and 1/4 cup of all purpose flour

- 1/4 teaspoon of salt

- 2 tablespoons of rainbow sprinkles

    Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Add in the flour and salt. Slowly mix until completely combined. Fold in the sprinkles. Line an 8x8 baking pan with plastic wrap, leaving about an inch overhang. Press the dough into the bottom of the baking pan evenly. Remove compacted dough, using the plastic wrap overhang. You will be left with an 8x8 square of dough. Slice the dough into 1/2 inch squares. Gently place each square 1/2 inch apart onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, or until bottoms become slightly brown. Let cool completely and enjoy. (If you try to remove them from the cookies sheet before they've cooled, they will crumble.)

White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread Cookies

    Three more days left in the cookie countdown to Christmas! Here are some decadent white chocolate cherry shortbread cookies for my 9th day of Christmas.

White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup maraschino cherries, drained and chopped

- 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

- 1/2 cup of sugar

- 1 cup of cold butter

- 1 cup of chopped white chocolate or white chocolate chips

- 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract

- 2 drops of red food coloring

- sprinkles

- White chocolate chips or vanilla almond bark for dipping

    Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Cut in the cold butter with a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or use a pastry blender until the mixture resembles small crumbs. Stir in chopped cherries and white chocolate. Stir in almond extract and red food coloring.

    Shape dough into 3/4 inch balls, place them 2 inches apart, and flatten into 1 1/2 inch rounds. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, until centers are set. Melt white candy melts and dip half of each cookie. Decorate with sprinkles and enjoy.

Christmas Tree Shortbread Cookies

It's day four in my cookie countdown to Christmas!! These shortbread cookies are so fun and easy! 

Christmas Tree Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

- 1 cup of butter at cool room temperature

- 1 cup of confectioners sugar

- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

- 2 cups of all purpose flour

- 1 cup of white chocolate chips or vanilla almond bark

- green food coloring

- sprinkles

    Preheat oven to 300 degrees and grease three 8" cake pans. With a mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Add in flour, one cup at a time. Once mixture is just combined, divide into thirds. Press each third into the bottom of each cake pan. Perforate the pressed dough with a fork all over to prevent bubbling. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the dough is lightly golden brown. Remove cookies from pans and slice into eighths immediately! Very important! Slice these the minute you take them out of the oven because they will be crumbly once cool! 

    Once cool, melt white chocolate chips or almond bark and add green food coloring. I used almond bark. Place in a piping bag and drizzle over cookies, then apply sprinkles.