Toasted Nut Shortbread
I love, love, love shortbread! This recipe takes it to the next level by adding your favorite toasted nut to the mix. These cookies aren’t super sweet, which is a nice change from your typical cookie. They pair perfectly with a mug of coffee, tea or hot chocolate, or my favorite, a big glass of ice cold milk.
1 cup Nuts (You choose- pecans, peanuts, pistachios, hazelnuts- they all work great)
1 1/4 cups Flour
3/4 cup Sugar
1 Stick Chilled Butter- cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread nuts on a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes in the oven, or just until they become fragrant. Let them cool then pulse in the food processor until finely ground, but don’t let it turn into a paste. Do short pulses until you get them to the right consistency.
Add flour, sugar, salt, butter and vanilla. Pulse until it comes together in a cornmeal like texture. Drizzle in 2 TBsp ice water. This should cause a crumbly dough to form.
Dump the dough out onto a large sheet of parchment and press out into a rectangle shape. Cover with another sheet of parchment and roll out to 1/2 inch thick. Place in the refrigerator until the dough firms back up (30 minutes or so).
Cut into desired shapes using a cookie cutter. I prefer to use a 2-3 inch wide cutter for these cookies. Use the same parchment you used previously and bake 12 cookies per tray for 14-15 minutes.
You want to see just a little golden brown color around the edges. I always rotate my pans half way through if I’m using both racks. Let cookies cool completely before serving. Will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container. Enjoy!