Shamrock Shortbreads
My husband loves shortbread cookies and doesn’t care for frosting on his cookies, so the sugar cut-out cookies I usually bake and painstakingly decorate for holidays usually get “oohs” and “aahs” from other people but he always asks me to keep some undecorated for him. When I saw this recipe, I knew he would like them, and they looked quick and easier than the kind I usually decorate.
The other reason I was excited to try this recipe was that it only has five ingredients, and they are all things I can get organic/natural versions of. I even took it a step further and used Xylitol instead of sugar!
I first bought some Xylitol as a sweetener for coffee, after I decided to cut out Splenda and before I decided to cut out coffee. Now I have it in my cabinet and don’t know what to do with it, so I decided to give it a try today. After consulting Cameron and doing a Google search I determined that a 1-for-1 substitute should work. As some of the sites predicted, the cookies did turn out a little dry, and they are not overly sweet, but they are pretty good (yes, even though they have flour in them (wheat!), I cheated on Lent and had a small piece when the stem broke off!) I thought it was pretty good, and my husband confirmed they are tasty but a little dry, which he says can easily be solved by drinking a glass of milk with them!
For (nearly) sugar-free cookies (the sprinkles added sugar), I think they came out quite well and it was fun and easy to make them for St. Patrick’s Day!
Here’s the recipe, with modifications/specifics added:
Yield: 24-30 cookies (depending on cookie cutter size)
Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake time: 20-25 minutes per batch
Total time: 30-60 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (all-natural, unsalted) butter (no substitute!), softened
- ½ cup xylitol (use 1/2 cup sugar if you prefer)
- 1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups organic all-purpose flour
- ½ cup green sprinkles
Directions:
- In a mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, and vanilla; add in flour very gradually.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness.
- Let your kids go to town (obviously I did this myself!) by cutting dough with 2-inch cookie cutters.
- Transfer cookies from counter to lined baking sheet using a thin metal spatula. Place cookies 1 inch apart on parchment lined baking sheets. Sprinkle cookies with colored sugar, if desired.
- Bake at 300 degrees F for 20 – 25 minutes (took mine 26-27!), until lightly browned.
- Place cookies on wire racks until they cool (when I did this, they broke, so the next batch I left on the sheet to cool).
Source: AmazingMoms.com
