by Lori Merrill

A friend brought these bright and beautiful cookies to our Bible study recently.

Not only were they colorful, but they were great tasting too! When I asked her to share how to make these she simply said, All you have to do is find a shortbread recipe to use and then make them into their shapes by She made it sound so easy I had to try. I was thinking of all of you who might enjoy this idea So, I listened carefully to the how to shape them part of the story, took a picture with my phone and my daughter and I tackled them that very weekend.

 

First, I have to tell you I had never made a shortbread cookie so I hunted down a recipe. I looked for something simple and easy because my friend kept saying how easy shortbread cookies are. I am including the one I used in case you need one.

 

Second, you will need orange gel food coloring–it will mix into the dough more easily than the liquid variety. We didn’t have any so I used yellow and red food coloring drops. It was not the colorful look I wanted, but it wasn’t too bad.

Last, once you mix up the dough and achieve the color you desire then use a large cookie scoop (packed) to make the shape you want. Use a knife to make the lines going down the sides of the pumpkin shaped dough. It works best to start at the top and make an X at the top and follow the line down the sides. Then add the other lines as needed. Bake according to the recipe. Once the cookies are out of the oven and while they are still hot, use green sour punch straws to make the stem. We cut the straws into pieces and pressed them into the top.

One little funny thing happened to our cookies that day. I noticed how dry the dough was when I was trying to color it. I asked some questions and found out that my daughter didn’t know or didn’t remember that you aren’t supposed to pack flour! So, the dryness you see in our cookies is because of that. However, it did provide a good laugh, a lesson and a fun memory to our day!

 

Shortbread Cookies

 

Ingredients:

 

3/4 pound butter at room temp

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

 

Preparation:

Mix butter and sugar in an electric mixer. Add vanilla.

 

Stir flour and salt together. Add to butter and sugar in mixer and mix.

 

Place on floured surface and flatten. Wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

 

Preheat oven to 350. Bake for 20-25 minutes until edges are golden.

 

 

 

 

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