Whipped Peppermint Vanilla Shortbread Cookies

Step 1

Prep: Begin by preheating the oven to 300°F. Then line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicon mat and set it aside.

Step 2

Cookie dough: Using an electric mixer, cream together the softened butter and powdered sugar until it is a light and fluffy mixture, this should take about 3-5 minutes.

Step 3

Next, gradually add the flour and cornstarch, beating until all is well blended. After that, add in the vanilla extract, almond extract and the salt. Proceed to whip the cookie batter on medium high speed for 5 minutes.

Step 4

Bake: Continue to scoop out balls of cookie dough using a small 1 TBSP cookie scoop. Then, using greased hands, gently roll the dough into smooth balls and place on the prepared baking sheets, leaving only about 1" of space between each ball of dough. The dough doesn't really spread, so you can fit a lot of cookies on 1 sheet.

Step 5

Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes before removing from the baking sheet and transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Step 6

Peppermint Vanilla Icing: In a medium size bowl, combine the melted butter, powder sugar, vanilla extract, peppermint extract, and milk. Whisk all the ingredients together until smooth, adding more milk as necessary until icing is pourable.

Step 7

Proceed to spoon the icing over the tops of each cookie. Immediately sprinkle with crushed peppermint pieces as the icing does set quickly. Let the cookies cool to set, serve and enjoy!