Friday, December 11, 2015

Holiday Butter Shortbread and a KitchenAid Mixer Giveaway

Hey Peeps, welcome to the Sweetest Season!!




I've got an amazingly easy and delicious Butter Shortbread cookie today and it is my contribution to the Sweetest Season Cookie Exchange.  Myself and 50 other awesome bloggers have teamed up to give away an amazing KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer plus other awesome prizes with a value of $690!!!  MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!!!!   Make sure you read through the whole post and enter the giveaway at the end.   I'd absolutely love love love if one of my peeps won the grand prize!!




I did receive some free goodies from Imperial Sugar, Dixie Crystals, and Bob's Red Mill for participating in The Sweetest Season Cookie Exchange and as always all opinions are 100% mine and the products and support are much appreciated.





Now lets get this cookie party started!
Today we are making a Holiday Butter Shortbread Cookie and I'm giving you a bonus of finishing them off 4 ways!  Yep, that's right, one dough and 4 different cookies plus a bonus idea that I tried out and was very sad I only made 1 cookie like that.

First of all you are going to need the following items to get you started:

2 cups butter: cold & cut into pieces (that is 4 sticks peeps) 
1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
2 Tablespoons white sugar
3 ½ cups AP flour  (sifted ) + ½ cup more separated
pinch of salt

No you didn't read that wrong, it does in fact say you will need 4 sticks of butter.  C'mon people it's the holidays, live a little.  And it's worth it, I pinky swear promise. I used unsalted butter but if you use salted butter omit the pinch of salt.  I always buy unsalted butter so I can control the salt but use what you have on hand.  



You are going to cream the butter and sugars in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy.  I just plopped mine in the mixer and let it go, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides.   If you don't have a big ole' mixer then keep reading so you can try to win one!!!   See how I worked that in again?



While that butter and sugar is getting all cozy in the mixture you can start sifting that 3 ½ cups of flour.  Hey...no complaining about sifting, you need to do something to work off the calories of 4 sticks of butter.   

Now that butter/sugar mixture should be all light and fluffy mix in that almond extract then lets start mixing in the flour.  Little batches at a time and mixer on slow least you decide to have a white Christmas in your own kitchen!  


Now grab some of that extra ½ cup of flour and cover your work surface and dump the dough out on it from the mixing bowl.  You are going to hand work in as much of that extra ½ cup of flour as you need to make your dough the texture of Play-doh.     For the record I used about ¾ of the amount I had set aside.  


Now that you've got it to the right texture (i.e. it shouldn't be gummy and sticky) then roll it into a ball.  Wrap in plastic and stick in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.  



This is what it looked like in my refrigerator.   I think it looks like a lumpy turkey...haha

Now run clean up the house and get a shower, wrap some Christmas gifts and come back to the dough when you get a chance.  

Flour your work surface a little bit and roll the dough out to about ½ thickness.  Cut your shapes and I added some sprinkles before baking.  Sprinkles make everything better!!




Pop those in a 325° oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown.
I recommend using a silicone baking mat for cookies but if you don't have one of those just use some parchment paper and maybe ask Santa to bring you a baking mat in your stocking.



Pull those out of the oven and set on wire racks to finish cooling.



Setting your mouth on fire eating one right out oven is not the best idea. 

So while the first batch were in the oven I rolled out the second batch (in a different shape) and then coated them in a cinnamon sugar mixture before going in the oven. 



While the second batch was baking I cut out yet a 3rd shape and just baked them plain, you'll see what happened to them in a minute.

The 4th and final batch was cut into yet another shape and green sprinkles were added prior to baking.

After all cookies were cooled this is what we ended up with.




Batch #1 Holiday Butter Shortbread with sprinkles



This one is probably my favorite. 



Batch #2 - Holiday Butter Shortbread with Cinnamon Sugar




MereBear is home from the institution of higher learning and this was her favorite version.




Batch #3 - Holiday Butter Shortbread with White Chocolate & Peppermint


On second thought, these might be my favorite.

I just melted some white chocolate chips and frosted those candy cane shapes and added some crushed peppermint.  




Batch 4 - Holiday Butter Shortbread with Chocolate and sprinkles
I put the sprinkles on prior to baking and when the cookies cooled I dipped the back into melted semisweet chocolate chips.  
(these were my least favorite, maybe because the chocolate was a tad overpowering for that rich buttery flavor however I wouldn't turn one down)

Now the bonus idea with no photo happened when I had a small ball of dough leftover.  I just rolled it into a ball smushed my thumb in the middle of the ball then plopped a dollop of plum jam in the middle.  Yeah, I snorted that sucker down straight away.  I'm thinking another batch of these cookies are getting made very soon with different jams in the middle.  






There you are, a plate of loveliness indeed.
Make some and worry about your pants fitting again next year.  




NOW let's talk about the giveaway because it is the Peppermint Sprinkle on top of this whole post. I'm super jealous that I can't win but here's to hoping one of my peeps will be the lucky recipient!



I’ve teamed up with 50 other bloggers to bring you The Sweetest Season’s Sweetest Cookie Giveaway! We’ve put together an incredible cookie baking prize package, and we can’t wait to tell you more about it.

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Be sure to check out our blogs to see all of our cookie recipes throughout the week! We’re using the hashtag #sweetestseasoncookies on social media this week, and we’re joining even more bloggers baking cookies, so it’s going to be a grand time!

Now, on to the giveaway!

A whopping 51 bloggers teamed up to bring you an awesome cookie-centric giveaway! We picked out a stand mixer and other goodies to make baking this season go smoothly. And, a big thank you goes out to the generous sponsors who helped with The Sweetest Season by organizing, as well as providing products to the participating bloggers and donating some incredible prizes for our giveaway! Be sure to check out Imperial Sugar, Dixie Crystals, Bob’s Red Mill, Cabot Creamery and The Crumby Cupcake for lots of great recipe ideas. And check out Garnishing Co., who designed our graphics.


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We’re giving away The Sweetest Cookie Prize Pack, and it is worth $690! See the Rafflecopter below to enter to win this amazing set of cookie baking goodies. The prize pack includes:

Giveaway rules:
  1. Enter the giveaway through the Rafflecopter widget below. Everyone gets a free entry! You can enter multiple times, up to 65 total entries by following the giveaway sponsors on social media. (If you’ve followed in the past, that counts! Just enter the information as prompted.) All entries will be verified. No purchase is necessary to win.
  2. The giveaway is open until Saturday, December 19, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. CST. One winner will be chosen at random and e-mailed within 48 hours. Winners must claim prize within 48 hours of initial contact. The retail value of the prize is $690. Prizes listed above are the only ones available.
  3. Open to U.S. residents with a valid shipping address only. Must be 18 years of age as of December 5, 2015.
  4. To read all giveaway terms and conditions, visit the giveaway terms and conditions page or click the option in the Rafflecopter below to review them.



    a Rafflecopter giveaway



    Peace, Love & Cookies!



    p.s. This post contains affiliate links for amazon.com.  You can help support the blog by purchasing any of the items with links from this post, I may earn a small commission on purchased items.   I only highlight products that I use and love. 
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