Recipes

Maple Shortbread Cookies

Each morsel of these delicate cookies offers the indescribable taste of caramelized maple.

Each morsel of these delicate cookies offers the indescribable taste of caramelized maple. That flavor abounds through and through—it’s in the cookie and in the glaze. Take a nibble. You’ll know it’s shortbread by the way the cookie melts in your mouth.

Makes 12 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • ¼ tsp pure maple extract
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • ½ cup salted butter, cut up
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • ½ cup 2% reduced fat milk
  • 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt; set aside. In large bowl, beat butter and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until smooth. Add maple syrup, egg yolk and extract; beat until combined. Gradually add flour mixture, beating just until combined. Flatten dough and wrap in plastic. Chill until firm (1½ hours or overnight).
  2. When dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to ¼-inch thickness and cut dough using a maple leaf-shape cookie cutter. Brush tops with beaten egg and place cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake until edges are golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on wire rack.
  3. In a medium saucepan, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar. Bring to boil over medium heat; boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Slowly stir milk into brown sugar mixture; let cool for 5 minutes. Whisk powder sugar into mixture until smooth. Pour warm frosting into a plastic squirt condiment/sauce bottle. Place cover with nozzle on bottle. To flood cookies with icing, pipe an outline around cookie edges, in area inside with icing. If you like, spread with a small offset spatula. Let cookies stand until icing is set.

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