Nana's Shortbread

Nothing says Christmas like fresh baked shortbread. My Nana made the best shortbread in the entire world. It was so good that none of us even bothered to try making it because we assumed we would fail. Now that Nana is gone it was time for me to try my best. I inherited her shortbread cookie press and I highly recomend picking one up if you are a shortbread lover. They are simple to use and make the cookies so festive and pretty plus perfectly shaped and sized for even cooking. Incidently my Nana's press is at least 50 years old and has the exact same shapes as the new ones!

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Soften the butter to room temperature and place in the bowl of your electric mixer. Beat for 7-8 minutes until light and fluffy and almost white in colour.

Add in half the icing sugar and beat again until smooth white and fluffy, about 2 mins. Repeat with the second half.

Add in 1/2 cup of flour and beat 2 mins. Add another 1/2 cup of flour and beat 2 mins. Continue on until all flour has been beaten into the mixture. End with 2 minutes of mixing.

Scoop the dough into your cookie press and on a non stick cookie sheet press out your shapes. I find that it takes a few cookies to get in the swing of things and also that I never need as much dough as I originally thought. ONce you get the hang of it you will be a cookie making assembly line.

Decorate before baking. I like to put those little silver ball sprinkles on the Christmas trees and marashino cherries in the middle of the pointsettias.

Bake at 275F until golden. Keep a close eye on them, it doesn't take long and all ovens are different. Allow to cool before eating. They should be crisp and fragile and then melt in your mouth.

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