Basket case

Up until last week I was on a steady diet of three desserts a day.  As heavenly as that sounds, it was starting to take its toll on some weight loss progress I have made over the past few years.  After adding a fourth dessert at the 2 o'clock hour it was obvious something needed to change.  Two weeks ago the decision was made to lose sugar completely for a week.  Get the monkey off my back.  Me, the sugar fairy. Could I survive such a ridiculous challenge?  What kind of crazy sugar crafter would venture down this road of healthfulness? 

I am happy to report today marks 1.5 weeks without a dessert after every meal. Progress is progress no matter how small.

While I found the challenge to not eat sugary goodness fairly easy, trying to give it up completely is a whole different ball of chocolate.  I love sugar art, sugar crafting, sugar craziness too much to walk away completely.  So, I have been baking and finding reasons to give it away.  I'm using my kids as my quality control, which may not be the best idea because they (sweetly) love anything I bake. 

Easter is hopping up on us quickly and Miss Big was invited to a party by a sweet friend, and is there a better reason to pawn off sugary goodness?  A tisket, a tasket, here is your shortbread full basket!

This is a new recipe for me, but like all shortbreads the beauty is in the simplicity.  They smelled good. Some were covered in chocolate ganache and others were fondant.  The sweet springy goodness pictured are marshmallow fondant.  They got the kid's seal of approval, for whatever that's worth.

Try them and let me know if they are any good. ;)

Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

1 lb butter
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups flour

Method

Soften butter completely by cutting into pieces and leaving at room temperature for 1 hour.

Add sugars to softened butter and cream until fluffy.

Mix in flour by hand or by mixer, and turn out onto unfloured surface and knead for 5 minutes.

Roll to 1/4" thickness between two sheets of parchment paper. This is the EASIEST method for doing cut out cookies and the full instructions can be found here. Cut with cookie cutters and place on ungreased baking sheets. Reroll scraps.

Bake at 325ºF for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool 5 minutes on sheets. Remove to wire racks to complete cooling.