by Laura Qusen

Like most good cooks, chefs and bakers, I learned a lot from my my mother, including this easy and delicious shortbread recipe.

• 1 pound softened butter
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix icing sugar, flour and cornstarch in a large bowl
Add butter and vanilla, mix well
Form into a ball and knead with your hands until fully blended
liberally sprinkle flour to your rolling surface (countertop preferably) and rolling pin to avoid sticking
Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to a thickness of ¼ inch.
If you have cookie cutters, great. If not, use the lip of a mug/glass to create your cookie shape

Bake at 300 F for 20 minutes.
Remove and let cool for 10 minutes.

Add sprinkles/raw sugar/whatever you’d like on top of the cookies if you’re looking for extra sweetness.

Taking it from good to great: add a few chocolate/butterscotch/etc. chips to the cookies before putting them in the oven.