Recipe- Mouthwatering Shortbread Cookies

These shortbread cookies are the holiday cookies mom has made every holiday season. They're whipped shortbread cookies that are so soft they literally melt in your mouth. You will LOVE them! This is the shortbread cookie recipe our family has been making for decades. They were part of the holiday cookie spread that always included mom's nanaimo bars, turtles, and butter tarts. Holidays wouldn't be the same without them.

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups salted butter, at room temperature – see notes
1 cup powdered sugar
½ cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla
Colored candied cherries or dried cranberries, for garnish

Method

* Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Position your oven rack in the middle of your oven.

* Add the flour, butter, powdered sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla to a deep mixing bowl.

* Begin mixing the ingredients using electric beaters at their lowest speed. Once the dry ingredients begin mixing with the butter and are not dusty anymore, increase the speed to medium.

* A few minutes later, the dough will start to look like sand. Keep beating the dough for another 3-4 minutes and it will start to come together.

* Once the dough comes together and your beaters start straining, increase the speed to high and beat the dough for another 1-2 minutes, or until it resembles thick whipped cream.

* Drop the dough into small mounds (about 2-3 tablespoons) on a baking sheet. If using, gently press a dried cranberry into the tops of the cookies then bake for 15 minutes.

* It is best to bake one sheet of cookies at the same time. Use a new sheet pan for the next batch. The cookie dough must be added to a cool baking sheet.

* Let the cookies cool for at least 10 minutes then use an offset spatula or slotted fish spatula to remove the cookies from the sheet pan and transfer them to a cooling rack.