Baked Sunday Mornings: Whipped Shortbread

This is my first week joining the Baked Sunday Mornings Roundup.  I'm super excited, I love the cookbooks and have been thinking about this online baking group all week.

 The recipe this week is the Whipped Shortbread from the Baked Occasions cookbook.  I actually didn't make the recipe on a Sunday morning, I made it on a worknight evening.  It was the best thing I could have done after a long day at work.  It was simple, it was clean, it was creative, it was calmness to my mind.  The recipe came together really quickly and had only a handful of ingredients, including sifted powdered sugar.  It was really enjoyable to make and it turned out perfectly.

I love the commentary the Baked authors put at the beginning of each recipe.  They mentioned how the bakers in their bakery tried out basically everything they thought would be good as a topping on these cookies.  Pecans, pistachios, Skor bars, etc.  That sounded so fun, an invitation to experiment.  So that is what I did.

First, I halved the recipe.  I have loved all things from Baked, however, a full recipe is just too much for a 2 person household.  So, no regrets, I halved the recipe.  Then, I scoured everywhere for fun toppings.  I did chop some pecans to see what a traditional topping would taste like, then I sprinkled some yellow sugar sprinkles on some, some chopped up Skor bar on others and the rest were left plain while baking.

Then after baking, the ones that were left plain were covered with the best toppings of all.  I had some caramel cream cheese icing left over from the salted caramel layered cake from the Baked Elements cookbook.  I had made the cake a couple weeks ago and frozen the extra frosting as well as some extra salted caramel sauce.  So, I put the cream cheese caramel frosting on some of the cookies and drizzled the salted caramel sauce layer over the top.  Oh it was heavenly.  Then, with the remaining plain cookies, I melted some semi sweet chocolate and put some of that on the top and drizzled over that with the salted caramel sauce as well.

They were beautiful.  I tried one of each type.  The cookie is melt-in-your-mouth good.  I had never had home made shortbread cookies before.  I actually googled shortbread cookies and shortbread cookie toppings because I didn't know how they would taste and what type of toppings would go well with the flavor.  They were fantastic.  My favorite was the cream cheese frosting with the caramel and the chocolate with the caramel.

Of course there were more cookies than we could eat at one time, so I took them to work the next morning.  I got to work early, before most everyone else and put them on a nearby table.  Later in the day, 2 coworkers were talking about how good they were and said they had to taste one of each kind.  The first coworker said he like the Skor topping the best.  The other coworker talked about how they are such a perfect cookie for the Christmas season and this time of year.

Unfortunately I never knew that this was a perfect little holiday cookie, and feel my childhood or christmas cookie (and baked good) knowledge was a little lacking because of this.  But Baked, you brought back some historical cookie knowledge with this one.  I learned about a classic cookie, a classic holiday treat.  I am quite excited to see what other baked goods of historical significance I will learn about as I make my way through the cookbooks.

I <3 you whipped shortbread cookie, your topping combinations are endless!