More shortbread

Shortbread:

My Dad regards the jam thumbprint as the "Mac daddy" of all cookies! Filled with raspberry preserves and sometimes a covering of chopped almonds, the cookie has to have a tender crumb and a melt-in- your-mouth consistency. Savouring this simple confection can very well be your "saviour" to a "me moment."

Ingredients:

Half cup and 1 tbsp of organic sugar( Repunzel) or any sugar you desire. 8oz European unsalted butter. Beat these two ingredients until creamy and you no longer feel the sugar in the mixture. Add a pinch of kosher salt and 2 tsp vanilla( from Santo Domingo preferably). Sift together one and three quarter cup all purpose and a quarter cup corn starch and then fold this mixture into butter and sugar mixture. Do not over work. You can mix all you like but the minute you fold the flour into any mixture, the less you have to handle the dough! unless of course you are making bread where you want to develop the gluten! Roll into small balls, flatten a little and imprint a thumb print and fill with your favorite preserve. Bake at 350 for 25 mins or until you smell the aroma of the cookie. A good baker can tell when something is done just by that sense of smell!

Variation: Bake the cookies with the thumb print and when cool fill with melted Lindt chocolate.