Coffee Cup Shortbread Cookies

Though Andrew and I have been in our house for about 5 months now, we are still finding ourselves getting settled; upgrading appliances, doors, and even toilets. Isn't homeownership a beautiful thing? Who knew I could get so excited over a new toilet seat? Or a door? But, alas, here I am. I am also finding housewarming gifts that have yet to be put to use. This amazing coffee cup cookie cutter is one of those beloved gifts. It's been sitting on my pantry shelf in plain sight, just waiting for me to pick it up, and finally I got around to baking some fun coffee cookies to serve with your morning brew. While the ingredients are fairly basic and assembly is ridiculously simple, please keep in mind that you need to chill your dough before baking, so give yourself ample time to make these. I ground my coffee myself for additional freshness, and the fresh vanilla bean really adds another depth of flavor. This batch made out 20 or so cookies, and let's just say they were gone in the same number of hours.

Coffee Cup Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp. coarsely ground coffee
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped out
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the butter until light and fluffy. Add in the powdered sugar, coffee, vanilla bean, and salt. Turn on to low until the powdered sugar is combined, scrape down the sides, then increase the speed to medium for about 4 minutes until the dough lightens in color and becomes well combined.

Add in the flour and mix for 1-2 minutes, scraping down the sides as you go. Once the dough comes together, form a ball with your hands and place onto a sheet of saran wrap.

Place another piece of saran wrap on top and roll out using a rolling pin until about 1/4-inch thick. Place the sheet of dough into the fridge for at least 3 hours, or overnight.

When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut your cookies with a cookie cutter, or into squares. Place about 2 inches apart on a parchment paper or silicon lined baking sheet and bake for about 12-14 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to turn a golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing to a place or airtight container.

These will keep for a few days, but trust me, they will disappear within a day or two.