Shortbread Cookies With and Without Nuts

These cookies were really good. I made both of Ina's shortbread recipes since they were almost identical, I just added vanilla and walnuts to half the dough. I liked the half with nuts better...had more interest to the cookie than just flour sugar and butter.

We had several people over last night to taste test them and the whole plate got eaten! Danny Matthew gets the award for eating the most...I think he ate 12 of them! I tried dipping half in chocolate for some and drizzling some, which I thought was prettier, but the dipped chocolate tasted better...more chocolate per bite! I just used chocolate bark cuz that is what I had on hand, I know it isn't the highest of quality, but it got the job done.

Ina suggests rolling them out to 1/2 inch thick..that seemed a bit much to me, so I did 1/4 inch, and thought they were perfect. I roll cookie dough between two sheets of parchment paper and then I stick them in the fridge sandwiched between the paper to chill until really cold. This keeps your rolling pin clean, your counter clean, and your cookies tender cuz you don't have to add extra flour to the dough while rolling it out. When you are ready to cut the dough, just remove the top sheet of parchment paper and leave the bottom on there, refer to picture.

This dough gets too soft if you let it warm up much. So make them one pan at a time, so the dough is cold going in the oven. I only baked them for 9-10 minutes since my cookies were so small, I got almost 85 small bite size cookies. I have lots in my freezer now! I say it is a keeper

-Carissa