Valentine’s Day Shortbread Cookies
We used the recipe from Alsion Roman, skipped the chocolate chunks, divided the dough into two, and used pink and red food coloring to make them the perfect Valentine’s Day cookie!
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup, plus two tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) cold SALTED butter, cubed
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar (packed)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 egg (for egg wash)
- Demerara sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Beat the butter, sugars, and vanilla on medium-high for about four minutes or until fluffy. You will need to stop the mixer and scrape down the sides a few times.
- Then, with the mixer on low, slowly add the flour and beat until well blended, but do not over-mix because you will be blending in the food coloring next.
- Divide the dough in half and mix in the food coloring. It’s easier to add the dough and the food coloring in two steps (one for pink, one for red) using the electric mixer to get the food coloring to incorporate fully into the dough.
- Wrap in wax paper and shape into a long rectangle. Do this separately with pink and red.
- Chill for at least one hour.
- Remove from wax paper (or plastic wrap) and cut in half, then in half again. Repeat with the other color.
- Stack the red and pink in a checkerboard pattern, and as the butter softens a little, the pink and red rectangles will blend.
- Using a pastry brush, brush the dough rectangle with the egg wash and cover in the demerara sugar.
- Place on a cookie sheet about 1″ apart and bake for about 14-16 minutes. Do not overbake! The top of the cookie will not brown that much.
- Transfer to cooling racks.