Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands

Mmmmm...just the title makes it sound delicious. By the way, sorry for the delay in the post, I had some company this weekend. My mom, Momma Bear, and Big Bear's aunt came up to visit for my "weekend". We had a fabulous time and I have no regrets of not being in the kitchen for the blog this weekend. Anyway, this week we have some melt-in-your-mouth delicious cookies otherwise known as shortbread. Not just regular shortbread though, no no. We have Nutella shortbread and peanut butter-butterscotch shortbread. *Insert pause to wipe up drool here* Without further ado...

Nutella Shortbread and Peanut Butter-Butterscotch Shortbread

Nutella Shortbread Cookies
1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 C) softened
1/2 C Nutella
1 t vanilla (the real stuff for this, not the imitation)
1 1/4 C flour
1/4 C powdered sugar
1/4 t salt
Plastic cling wrap
Parchment paper/SilPat mat

These cookies whip together so quickly, it's awesome. To start, cream together the butter and Nutella. Add the vanilla and slowly incorporate the flour, powdered sugar, and salt. The dough will probably look pretty crumbly at this point, it's ok. turn the dough out onto a length of cling wrap and smoosh it together. It will start to clump. Use the plastic wrap to help mold it into a log shape. Wrap in the plastic and put in the freezer while you heat the oven to 325. Once the oven is heated, take the dough out of the freezer and using a VERY sharp knife (I use ceramic for this) slice the log into cookies about 1/3 inch thick. They will spread a bit, so place them about 1-2 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a SilPat. Bake for 12-14 minutes. They absolutely will look soft and undone coming out of the oven. I swear, they're done. Do NOT over bake these. The magic of these cookies is the soft, buttery, melt in your mouth-ness that comes from not over baking. Cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Om nom nom time!

Peanut Butter-Butterscotch Shortbread Cookies
1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 C) softened
1/2 C creamy peanut butter
1 t vanilla (the real stuff for this, not the imitation)
1 1/4 C flour
1/4 C powdered sugar
1/4 t salt
1/3 C butterscotch chips
Plastic cling wrap
Parchment paper/SilPat mat

To start, cream together the butter and peanut butter. Add the vanilla and slowly incorporate the flour, powdered sugar, and salt. Fold in the butterscotch chips The dough will probably look pretty crumbly at this point, it's ok. turn the dough out onto a length of cling wrap and smoosh it together. It will start to clump together. Use the plastic wrap to help mold it into a log shape. Wrap in the plastic and put in the freezer while you heat the oven to 325. Once the oven is heated, take the dough out of the freezer and using a VERY sharp knife (I use ceramic for this) slice the log into cookies about 1/3 inch thick. The sharp knife is super important for these ones as the chips make it a little more difficult to cut through the log. They will spread a bit, so place them about 1-2 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a SilPat. Bake for 12-14 minutes. They absolutely will look soft and undone coming out of the oven. I swear, they're done. Do NOT over bake these. The magic of these cookies is the soft, buttery, melt in your mouth-ness that comes from not over baking. Cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Om nom nom time!




If you can wait to bake these (and I don't know how you could), or just want some 'do ahead' type cookies, leave them at the freezer stage and pick back up whenever the day comes that you want to bake them. Perfect for if you just want 1-2 cookies at a time (I don't know why you would) or if you do freezer cooking for the month.


What other combinations of flavors do you think would be good as a shortbread cookie? Chocolate cookie and mint chips?