Shortbread Holiday Sundaes

This past weekend I had friends over for dinner and I wanted to serve them a simple dessert that had some of the tastes of the season. I'd recently made Martha Stewart's Basic Shortbread recipe and had plenty of cookies and crumbs left over, so I decided to make Shortbread Holiday Sundaes.

They were simple to make, using vanilla ice cream, butterscotch liquer (for a little kick!), sprinkling shortbread cookie crumbs on top and then sticking a full shortbread cookie in for good measure. They turned out to be a wonderfully creamy, buttery and crunchy dessert, with a little Holiday indulgence.

To make Martha Stewart's Basic Shortbread recipe, you'll need:

1 1/3 cups (2 sticks plus 6 tbsp) Unsalted Butter, room temperature, plus more for pans

2/3 cup Sugar

3/4 tsp Salt

3/4 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

3 1/3 cups All-Purpose Flour 

Preheat oven to 275°F. Butter a 9-by-13-by-1-inch baking pan, and line bottom with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add salt and vanilla, and beat to combine.

Add flour, 1 cup at a time, beating on low speed until just combined.

Pour dough into prepared pan.

Press dough, leveling and smoothing the top.

Using a dough scraper or the back of a knife, cut dough lengthwise into nine strips, each slightly less than 1 inch wide.

Cut the strips crosswise into thirty-six 3-inch bars. Using the tines of a fork or a wooden skewer, create a decorative pattern on the surface.

Bake shortbread until evenly pale golden, but not browned, 70-85 minutes.

Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool. Invert pan, and remove parchment. Turn shortbread over, and carefully break, or cut with a serrated knife, into bars. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

 

Although I tried to catch most of the crumbs onto parchment to save for later, some of them inevitably ended up on the floor, but Whiskey was happy to help me clean them up.

Assembling the Shortbread Holiday Sundaes for dessert was easy. Just place a scoop of ice cream in a dish, dizzle on butterscotch liquer or sauce, sprinkle on shortbread crumbs and top with a cookie.

Yum!