Christmas Shortbread Cookie Tree

Shortbread Cookie Tree by Nithya

Ingredients:

All purpose flour(Maida) – 1 1/2 cups
Corn flour – 1/2 cup
Butter – 1 cup (Room temperature)
Powdered sugar – 1/2 cup
Salt – a pinch
Vanilla essence / Almond essence – 1 tsp

Method:

1. Sieve the dry ingredients(All purpose flour, cornflour, and salt) and keep it aside.
2. In a bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy for about a minute. Add the sugar to it and beat until smooth and creamy. Pour the vanilla extract and beat just once. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Now flatten the dough into a smooth disk shape with your hand and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least an hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
4. Sprinkle some All-purpose flour on your working surface and roll out the dough into a 1/4 inch thick rectangle.
5. Use your cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Small to Big. 
6. Place the cut out cookies on a baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes, watching closely so that they don’t get too brown. 13 minutes did it perfectly in my convection oven.
7. Let the cookies cool on a wire rack for a while. Initially, the cookies might feel a little soft and crumbly to touch but will harden as they cool down.
8. Store in airtight containers.

Light, crumbly, and melt in the mouth Christmas shortbread cookies are ready to eat 🙂

Enjoy making and happy eating 🙂