Shortbread Cream Sandwiches

Next to chocolate chip cookies, these are my all time favorite cookie. The combination of my favorite shortbread cookie with a delicious and ridiculously sweet buttercream filling is just sinful. I LOVE these cookies. And don't the little pastel sprinkles just add to the sweetness of them? I made these for a friend I was going to visit today. She lives right across the street from Alki Beach in West Seattle in this little apartment that was built in the early 1900's. It's an old brick building with gorgeous hardwood floors and has more character than any aparment I've ever seen. She has decorated every room with a different theme and different colors. One room is "Old Hollywood" and she painted it all powder pink with black trim. She made a lovely brunch with tea and we sat and ate our quiche and then munched on these wonderful cookies while watching the pounding rain on the beach across the street. What a gray rainy day! I love it!

Ok, back to the cookies....these really do make a beautiful presentation and are so easy to put together. They look professional and package so nicely. I don't know anyone who would not like these and you can be so versatile with them. I ran out of buttercream before I filled all of my cookies so I melted some semi sweet chocolate and dipped several of them halfway in chocolate and then sprinkled the melted chocolate with the pastel sprinkles. You can fill them with a chocolate buttercream. You can put a different flavoring in the cookies. I used vanilla but you could experiment with almond, or lemon or coconut. How about using coconut in the shortbread then sprinkling the sides of the buttercream filling with coconut flakes instead of sprinkles? There sure are alot of options. I've posted this shortbread recipe on my blog a few times now but I will post it again because it's such a perfect and tasty cookie.




Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups butter, softened 2 cups confectioners' sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.	In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 2 cups confectioners' sugar. Beat in the vanilla and salt. Add flour one cup at a time, mixing well after each. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place them 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in confectioners' sugar. (I used my really small cookie scoop to get them all a uniform size - that way I didn't have to handle the dough with my hands).
3.	Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until a light golden brown. Buttercream (I have no exact measurements but I just add milk or confectioners sugar till I get the consistency I want). Unsalted Butter - about 2 sticks Shortening - about 1 cup Powdered Sugar - About 6 cups Vanilla - about 1 teaspoon (I use clear vanilla so my icing doesn't get too discolored). Touch of salt Milk, preferably whole or half & half (add till you get correct consistency) Cream together the butter & shortening till fluffy. Add the vanilla or your choice of flavoring. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time along with the pinch of salt. Add milk till you reach the desired consistency. Sometimes I add too much milk and need to add more sugar. Just keep going till your satisfied. I like my icing pretty thick if I'm using it for a sandwich cookie. Thicker than I normally would to ice a cake.