Punitions

A few days ago, my 3 ½ year old asked if we could make cookies. We didn't have chocolate chips. We had just finished the brown sugar. And bed time was fast approaching. What to do? A sugar-cookie. A shortbread. Like the French punitions? I only slightly modified the recipe from Smitten Kitchen, as detailed below.

Conveniently, we have all the ingredients! So off we go...

5 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ cup sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour

Beat the butter and sugar together until smooth and creamy.

Add the egg.

Beat until smooth. Add the flour. Pulse in the flour until combined.

Dump the dough out onto a floured surface. Combine into 2 small piles, press together, wrap with plastic wrap and toss into the freezer for half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove one pile of dough, and roll it out on a floured surface. You want your cookies about ¼" thick. Cut out cookies, with the help of a small child, remove the cookies from the cutters, and place them on a cookie sheet with a Silpat.

Bake 12-14 minutes, until the cookies have solidified, and look like this:

Remove to cool.

Smitten Kitchen suggests you can keep these cookies around for 5 days at room temperature. I wouldn't know.