these shortbread are my friend Abby's favorite. Based on the sour cherry shortbread from Macrina, a wonderful bakery here in Seattle, these cookies have a delicious savoriness to them. Because there are so few ingredients, please use the freshest, very best butter you can. You'll be able to taste it, I promise! I usually leave them plain, but you can dust them with confectioner's sugar (like I do when I make them for the holidays) or glaze with royal icing.

ingredients

        1 cup brown sugar
        1/2 cup cornstarch
        3 1/2 cup all purpose flour
         1 teaspoon kosher salt
         1 pound unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
         1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

method

1. combine brown sugar and cornstarch in the bowl of a stand mixer. mix on low speed for about 30 seconds to break up any clumps.
2. Add flour and salt and mix again for about 30 seconds.
3. Drop in butter pieces and continue to mix on low speed, until the mixture is coarsely crumbly. Stop mixing as soon as the mixture starts to come together.
4. Add vanilla and mix for 10 seconds to combine.
5. Pull dough out of the bowl and divide into two pieces. Place one piece of dough on a sheet of waxed paper or parchment paper.
6. Roll the dough out until it's about 1/4 inch thick. (I sometimes make these thinner, which bake up crispy; or sometimes make them thicker, which bake up with a lovely toothsomeness)
7. Lift parchment paper onto a rimmed baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Repeat with remaining piece of dough. Chill both sheets of dough for a minimum of an hour.
8. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove dough from refrigerator and use a cookie cutter to stamp out cookies. Place cookies on baking sheets lined with parchment paper or a Silpat, leaving 1 inch between cookies.
9. Place one sheet of cookies in the oven (while it's baking, refrigerate the other sheet). Bake on the center rack of your oven for 20-25 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet about halfway through baking.
10. Finished cookies will be golden brown. Let cool on the baking sheet, and bake the second sheet of cookies.
11. Once cookies are cool, you can dust them with powdered sugar, or ice them with royal icing. I like them plain, so that the savoriness of the butter shines through.