Sugared Cranberry Pecan Shortbread

1. Using a stand mixer (preferably), cream the butter to break it up and make it smooth. Use the paddle attachment for this. Add the sugar and cream for a minute before mixing in the vanilla.

2. Add the flour, cornstarch and salt. Mix again.

3. Add the pecans and cranberries and mix until the dough forms a ball. If your dough seems too crumbly and won’t form a ball, add a tad more vanilla until it does.

(Option: You can leave out the cranberries if you don’t fancy them. I LOVE these just with the pecans.)

4. Turn out your dough onto a generous piece of plastic wrap or wax paper and form into a log about 2 inches high and 2 inches wide. Don’t feel too badly if its not round, I can’t form a round log to save my life.

5. Now, sprinkle the raw sugar on the plastic wrap along side the dough and roll the dough over the sugar until all sides are coated. Wrap the log up in the plastic, place it on a cookie sheet and chill until firm. This will take a good hour.

6. Heat your oven to 350 degrees F and remove the log from the fridge. Slice the log into 1/2 inch slices and place onto an ungreased cookie sheet about two inches apart. Bake for about 22-24 minutes.

Some of the cookies may have a slight ring of golden tan around the edges, some may not, depending on where they are on the cookie sheet.

7. Remove the sheet from the oven and let the cookies sit on the sheet until they are mostly cool. Then, carefully remove the cookies with a spatula onto a foil sheet.

If you made the log similar to mine it should yield about 25-30 slices. Of course, I have no way to confirm this since most of the first pan of cookies were eaten before the second pan came out of the oven. Sorry about that!