Gingerbread Shortbread Cookies

Wait, is it gingerbread or shortbread? What did you make us here, Anita? Well, the answer is a combination of both. Since it's mid-December, I'm definitely feeling the gingerbread vibe. But I have a soft spot in my heart for shortbread. I found a bunch of recipes for ginger shortbread and even some packaged versions from cookie companies I really like. But they taste like ginger, not gingerbread. I needed a better marriage of the two.

If I want it and I can't find it, I usually try to make it. So I threw all my standard shortbread ingredients into a bowl and added a few things from the gingerbread playbook. I figured it would either be great or I would learn there's a good reason why I haven't found this recipe but I was prepared to sacrifice some dough for the sake of research.

Happily, no sacrifice was involved because this turned out exactly how I envisioned. The texture of buttery shortbread with the smell and kick of gingerbread. You can definitely amp up the holiday thing by adding cloves but I'm not a big cloves fan so I skip it.

Because these cookies are firm, you can definitely get out the piping bag and cookie color flooding kit and make beautiful gifts to give to people. Maybe I'll do that someday but today is not that day. I added white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate and peanut butter to 3 separate bowls. Then I warmed them in the microwave till they were runny, used a spoon to drizzle it all over the place and threw some sprinkles on them in a carefree manner. I call it abstract cookie art. The people I gave the cookies to seemed happy. Enjoy!

Yield: 12 Servings

Author: Anita Schecter

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Gingerbread Shortbread Cookies

Prep time: 15 MCook time: 20 MTotal time: 35 M

Recipe for shortbread cookies flavored with molasses, ginger, cinnamon and brown sugar.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 Sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 Cup white granulated sugar
• 1/4 Cup brown sugar (light or dark)
• 1 Tablespoon molasses
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Cups all purpose flour
• 1 Teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 Teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt
• 4 oz. White chocolate chips for drizzling
• 4 oz. Semi-sweet chocolate chips for drizzling
• 4 oz. Peanut butter chips for drizzling
• Sprinkles (white or chocolate) for topping

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add the butter and sugar to a large bowl and cream together using a hand or stand mixer. Mix in the molasses and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon and salt. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and stir to combine.
4. On a well floured board, roll the dough out to approximately 3/4" thick and use any cookie cutters you like to cut out shapes. A 3 1/2" cookie cutter should yield about a dozen cookies. Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 20 minutes or until the edges are a light golden brown. Allow to cool thoroughly before handling.
5. Add the white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate and peanut butter chips into 3 separate bowls and microwave for about 30 seconds or until melted. Stir thoroughly and drizzle over the finished cookies as desired.

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