Is there such a thing as a non-tasty shortbread cookie?
We think not!

But when you make these sweet delights with brown sugar and cinnamon… ah, that takes the classic shortbread to a whole new level of yummy.

Shortbreads can be frozen in air-tight plastic containers, to be pulled out later when company comes over unexpectedly — but don’t count on having any cookies left over to freeze unless you make a double batch.

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup (dark) brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups white flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tsp cinnamon (or more, to taste)
icing sugar (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350°F, and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.

(Yes, you’ll want to use parchment paper — it helps to keep the cookies from browning too much on the bottom. Did you know that you can use parchment paper more than once, sometimes even a couple of times? True. And if you’re out of parchment paper, you can substitute waxed paper instead — not quite as good, but it will work in a pinch.)

Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla, beating until it’s very light and fluffy. Beat in the flour, cornstarch, and cinnamon until it’s all well-blended into cookie dough.

(For some reason, my corn starch always seems to have tiny lumps in it, so I like to put it through a sieve on its way into the mixing bowl.)

Form the cookie dough into 3/4″ balls between your (clean!) hands and place them on the lined cookie sheet. They can go quite close together because the cookies don’t tend to spread out very much as they bake. Flatten the balls — just a little, just enough so they don’t roll — using the bottom of a glass or the heel of your hand.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then remove from the baking sheet and cool them on a wire rack.

Optional: when the shortbreads are cool, dust them lightly with icing sugar. This is something I don’t usually bother to do, except when I’m trying to be fancy, but it does makes them feel and taste a bit like cinnamon-enhanced polvarones (only a lot less work).

This recipe makes about 40-50 ladylike little cookies.

Outside, the sun sparkles off about a foot of pristine snow. Indoors, the kitchen smells deliciously of cinnamon and chocolate… and the pre-Christmas baking continues…

Each of the keen cooks among our friends and extended family has a different couple of specialties in the Christmas treats category, so one of our annual holiday traditions is for a few of us will get together to bake — using the heat from one oven, so environmentally friendly, plus it’s always more fun to cook with company.

This year is an extra-busy one, however, so we’re going for a straight cookie swap.

You bake yours, I bake mine — and we all get together with our cookies and make a trade. It’s a bit of a relaxed social time (sampling the cookies is a must!) and everyone goes home with an impressive mix of holiday goodies…

Robin Olson has a cookie-exchange party idea that I rather like — you collect all the cookie swap recipes in advance, and print them up in a little booklet as a take-home party favour. Or maybe do up recipe cards, tied together at the corner with a ribbon? Make a nice cover for it (put the kids to work with crayons) and your cookie cookbook could even double as a Christmas card.

Anyway, I didn’t get my truffles made in that last mad flurry of storm day baking, due to a critical shortage of condensed milk (substitute for cream) in the pantry. But it’s on the shopping list, along with the tiny festive paper cups in which to nestle those tasty chocolatey morsels.

Meanwhile, I’ve moved on to meringues — since the Reynolds people were good enough to send a packet of parchment paper today, in a cookie tin along with recipe cards and party invitations and all manner of cookie-related goodness. (If you’re in the US, by the way, you can get Reynolds to send a free sample of parchment paper to you.)

Yeah, yeah, I know, me too… “parchment paper” always reminds me of snooty restaurants serving Aubergine en papillote and such.

But for meringues, it’s just practical.

Non-stick cookie sheets, ordinary cookie sheets, it doesn’t matter — if I don’t use parchment paper under my meringues, a few will always stick and crumble when I try to slide them off the pan… Of course, that does mean I have to eat the crumbs…

Oh! how I love meringues!

Tiny little light-as-air confections to melt on the tongue…. why is it that not a lot of people make them anymore? Perhaps these could be my “signature cookie” for the exchange.

Half of my recipe, I’ll shape as dainty dollops about the same size as the truffles — package them up together in a pretty tin, and there’s a perfect hostess gift for when you’re making the festive rounds!

The other half, I’ll pipe out the meringue into finger shapes, and dip the ends in dark bttersweet chocolate, maybe roll in thin shavings of milk chocolate, too, for decorative effect.

Because really, there’s no such thing as too much chocolate…


Photos: Reynolds, ifindkarma