Cranberry Pecan Shortbread
A delicious star-studded cookie packed with flavour that simply melts in your mouth. You will need a stand mixer to make this cookie. You can bake the cookies all at once, or keep the logs in the fridge or freezer and bake as needed. This is a variation on Aunt Ester’s Shortbread, originally submitted by Chef Curtis Straub.
Makes about 36 shortbread
1 lb salted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups packed icing sugar
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
6 tbsp cornstarch
¼ tsp salt
1 cup chopped dried cranberries
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup granulated sugar, for dusting
In a large mixer bowl, cream the butter and the icing sugar until fluffy.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch and salt. Gradually add the mixture to the creamed butter, a third at a time on low speed. Increase speed to medium-high and beat the batter for a full 10 minutes. The batter will resemble heavily beaten whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Reduce the speed to low and add in the cranberries, pecans and vanilla. Combine well.
Tear off three long strips of plastic wrap. Divide the dough into three and place large spoonfuls of the dough along in the centre of each strip to create a log about 2” thick. Use floured hands to roughly shape the dough in a uniform log. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, using your hands to even out the shape of the log; refrigerate several hours, until firm. The dough can also be frozen at this point and baked later.
Preheat oven to 275°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Unwrap one of the logs and cut it into ¼” thick rounds. Dip both sides of each round in granulated sugar. Place on the cookie sheet. Bake for 35 minutes. Cookies will not brown – you want them to be white, like snow. Let cool on the pan before removing to a wire rack. Let cool on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining logs.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton dead following prison attack
Convicted B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, who preyed on women he lured from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside to his rural pig farm, has died.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Baby dead after being delivered via emergency C-section to woman who was in police custody
A newborn is dead after being delivered via emergency C-section to a woman in police custody.
Biden speaks after Donald Trump's conviction in hush money case
A day after a New York jury delivered a historic guilty verdict in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee held a press conference Friday where he spoke publicly about the conviction and his White House bid.
How did Ontario's bankrupt 'Crypto King' travel the world on Scene+ points?
Newly released documents suggest Ontario’s so-called ‘Crypto King’ paid for months of world travels with $13,000 worth of Scene+ points while bankrupt – but how?
More counterfeit drugs seized, hot water boiler causes fire: Here are the recalls for this week
Health Canada recalled various items this week, including more unauthorized products, counterfeit drugs and bassinets.
Mediterranean diet helps women live much longer, a large new study finds
Women who closely followed a Mediterranean diet lived much longer than those who did not, according to a new study that followed more than 25,000 women for 25 years.
DND moving 1,000 employees out of Ottawa office building due to safety concerns
The Department of National Defence is moving approximately 1,000 employees out of an office building in Ottawa's Lowertown neighbourhood, citing safety concerns for its employees.
Solutions coming for piled-up bodies outside Newfoundland hospital
Health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador say they are only weeks away from a solution to move unclaimed human remains out of roadside freezers and into a nearby hospital.