Christmas Shortbread Bites

Christmas baking time has begun for our family and here in NJ it was the perfect weekend to do it since we were all stuck inside during the snow storm. I found these Christmas Shortbread Bites on Sarah's Kitchen which was our Secret Recipe Club assignment for the month. They are tiny little festive treats that are quite addicting, I have to admit our batch is almost completely gone. I plan on making them again this week to give out to the neighbors as little presents for the holidays. I don't know about you but I'm impatient and sometimes can't wait for butter to soften to start a batch of cookies. I also don't always have the time to roll the dough into balls or use cookie cutters so these shortbread bites worked out perfectly for me. Not only were they easy and simple to prepare I was able to make them immediately.

Ingredients:

1 Stick I Can't Believe it's Not Butter - Cold & Cubed

1/4 Cup Sugar

1 1/4 Cup Flour

1 Tsp Vanilla

1 Tbsp Green Sprinkles

1 Tbsp Red Sprinkles

Adapted from: http://sarahsbritamericankitchen.blogspot.com/.

Start by preheating your oven to 325 F. In your food processor combine together the flour and sugar. Cube your cold butter or margarine and add it into the bowl of the food processor.

Using the pulse setting combine the mixture together until it begins to crumble and then starts to form the dough. Gently take it out of the food processor and knead it a bit with your hands to from a large ball.

Place the dough down on a lightly floured surface. Make a well on the top and pour your colored sugar sprinkles into the well. Knead the dough again until the sprinkles are spread out evenly throughout the dough.

Make the ball of dough into a flatten rectangle as best you can, mine ended up being more of an oval. Place it on top of a baking sheet with wax paper. Since the dough will be quite warm and soft from all of the handling place it in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Slice the dough into 1/2 pieces, trying to keep them as even as possible. Place the bites on an un-greased baking sheet 1/2 inch apart and bake for 16-18 minutes until slightly golden brown. I was originally going to sprinkle them with a little more sugar before they were baked because I was concerned they wouldn't be sweet enough but I'm happy I didn't because they were perfect ;)

Enjoy!!

Linked at: http://www.thecountrycook.net/