SUPER EASY & delicious Irish shortbread cookies

Little by little I'll stop being lazy and blog on what I've made this summer.  I take all the pictures and they just keep adding up on my computer and I tell myself "I'll blog tomorrow."  hee hee. and that was 2 months ago. Sorry. Anyhoo... My hubby is a shortbread cookie fan so when I saw this recipe on the Martha Stewart show I knew it was a must try.  What can I say? This is the easiest cookie I have ever made. 3 ingredients and they just melt in your mouth.  The Irish butter definitely makes all the difference. With a higher fat content no wonder. Who doesn't like fat?  Everyone knows the fattier it is, the better it tastes.  My waistline is suffering from it but it was soo worth it. For something different, cut a hole in half before baking, sprinkle powdered sugar when done, fill with jam, put together and you have a yummy bite size jam cookie. I want to try making little tartlets with this recipe, I'll update you when that time comes. :)  Enjoy.

Makes about 3 dozen

 Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) Irish unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. With the mixer on low, slowly add flour. Continue mixing until dough comes together to form a ball.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface; roll out dough to about 1/4-inch thickness, dusting rolling pin with flour as necessary to prevent sticking.

Using a 2 1/4-inch round, fluted cutter, cut out dough. Transfer to prepared baking sheet, spacing about 1 inch apart. Gather up any scraps, gently re-roll, and repeat cutting process. Take care not to overwork dough.

Transfer baking sheet to oven and bake until shortbread just begins to turn golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool. Shortbread may be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Cookies will be same color coming out as they we're going into the oven. 

I bet these would be yummy dipped in chocolate too! tiny bite size ones with nutella in the middle? mMm..

Paula Deens Magical Peanut Butter Cookies....low carb. :)

PD is my food network go to girl! I don't know if it's that southern accent I love, the fact that she resides in Savannah, Ga which is gorgeous, or just the fact that she uses about a truck full of butter in every recipe. Unfortunately in these Low Carb cookies, there is not butter. Maybe we'll experiment next time, but for this time I stuck to the recipe as is. They we're tasty, for a low carb treat they serve your sweet tooth craving. They're a bit on the 'crumbly' side for peanut butter cookies, but you can't be too picky at 3 net carbs for 2 cookies. recipe as follows.

Ingredients

• 1 cup peanut butter, creamy or crunchy
• 1 1/3 cups baking sugar replacement (recommended: Splenda)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a large baking sheet.

In a mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter, 1 cup sugar replacement, the egg, and vanilla, and stir well with a spoon.

Roll the dough into balls the size of walnuts. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheet. With a fork, dipped in sugar replacement to prevent sticking, press a crisscross design on each cookie.

Bake for 12 minutes, remove from the oven, and sprinkle the cookies with some of the remaining sugar replacement. Cool slightly before removing from pan.