Valentine's day is coming up and we wanted to share a little love. . .
. . . using a classic recipe. . .
. . . with a new twist. . .
. . . a sweet gift. . .
. . . for a special someone on a special day. . .
. . . and a fun game to play!
Tic-Tac-Toe Cookies
Shortbread:
- 1/3 cup of butter (softened) plus one tablespoon
- 1/3 cup of confectioner's sugar
- 3/4 cup of sifted flour
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Chocolate Shortbread:
- 1/3 cup of butter (softened) plus one tablespoon
- 1/3 cup of confectioner's sugar
- 3/4 cup of sifted flour
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Shortbread:
Cream the softened butter and then add sugar slowly until light and fluffy. Add the other ingredients gradually making sure not to over mix. Once the batter/dough is a pea consistency, pour it out onto a large piece of parchment paper and use the paper to help you form it into a ball. Kneed the dough very slightly to make it more pliable. Chill covered for 30 min.
Chocolate Shortbread:
Follow the same instructions as listed above, but before you add the flour, mix the cocoa powder and the vanilla into the creamed butter and sugar before adding the flour.
When you have your two cookie doughs ready, roll them each out to about 1/8" thickness. We like to do this on parchment paper because it lessens the amount of flour needed for rolling and so makes the cookies that much more full of buttery goodness! After the dough is rolled out cut out your shapes and transfer them to a parchment lined baking pan. If you have alphabet cookie cutters you can use those. I didn't have any so I cut the "X's" freehand and used a spice jar lid and a small heart cookie cutter to make the "O's". Bake them at 325 for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the white cookies are golden brown.
To make the Tic-tac-toe gift bags, I just drew a grid on the fabric bags with a permanent marker. When wrapping up the cookies in parchment to put in the bags make sure they are in one layer so they won't break. If you want to transport a lot of them without worry, I might even add a little piece of cardboard inside the wrapper. The shortbread is pretty sturdy, but like any cookie, will break if handled roughly.
Give these sweet gifts to the ones you love on Valentine's Day or any day.
Enjoy!
~ Sarah
P.S. I used the leftover scraps from each dough after I cut out the shapes to make marbled shortbread squares, which were so good! To make them, just gather the scraps together gently and roll a few times with a rolling pin. Cut into squares and bake.
*Last time in Recipes: Sweet and Savory Popovers
