Festive Shortbread - A Wonderful Homemade Gift

At Christmas whilst browsing the seasonal aisle of the supermarket I am always looking for excuses to buy the beautiful tins of festive shortbread.  I adore shortbread but for some reason I seem to forget this for about 11 months of the year, then go into a shortbread frenzy come Christmas.  Another thing I seem to easily forget is just how easy shortbread is to make and really if I'm going to eat it I ought to make the effort to bake it myself.

Shop bought shortbread is absolutely delicious, but homemade is in a completely different league.  If you've never made it yourself this is an ideal place to dip a toe in to home baking and if you can bear to part with it you can turn it into a lovely gift.  I put a slightly festive spin on my shortbread by pressing a Christmas tree into each biscuit using a sugarcraft cutter and I'm so happy with how it came out.

To get a similar effect roll your shortbread dough out to about 5mm thickness and use a large scone cutter to get your biscuits cut out.  Press a festive shape into the top of each biscuit before transferring the biscuits to a baking tray and popping them in the oven.  They won't spread too much so the imprint remains quite strong and distinct.  If you haven't got a suitable sugarcraft cutter just use a knife to draw a shape.  Totally unique that way and it gives you free reign on the design!

If you decide to make some festive shortbread please do share your pictures with me on twitter.  I'd love to see them.  Normal Kitchen on Twitter