Almond Shortbread

By Foodiewife

These cookies remind me of ones I used to buy in London, at Marks & Spencer.
These are simply delicious.

Please read my notes on how to be patient, and the dough WILL come together. It's important to chill the dough for a bit, but so worth the effort.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar for decoration

Details

Servings 24
Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 160mins
Adapted from foodiewife-kitchen.blogspot.com

Preparation

Step 1

In a stand mixer (or food processor), beat butter with 1/2 cup sugar and almond extract until light and fluffy.

Add flour until smooth and well combined.
Note: Be patient! Using my Kitchen Aid Stand mixer, the dough first became crumbly but in a couple of minutes, it all came together perfectly!

Divide dough into 2 parts. Refrigerate, covered for 2 hours.

Preheat oven 300°F

On lightly sugared*** surface, roll out dough, one part at a time, about 1/2 inch thick.
Note:*** I used flour and they still turned out great.
Using a 1 1/2 inch round cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Place 1 inch apart, on un-greased cookie sheet.

With end of wooden spoon, or cookie press, make an indentation in center of each cookie.

Alternate method:
You can shape the dough into a roll, chill and then slice-- to save the extra work of rolling and cutting the dough.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until light golden brown around the edges (my oven only took 22 minutes.

While still warm, roll in sugar.

Cool completely on a wire rack.