Stand back,  it's a cookie throw down!

Shiral marches into the kitchen, tying on her apron, rolling up her sleeves and brandishes her rolling pin, followed by a large blue-furred muppet.   You wanna piece of me? Hunh?  I'm ready to walk the walk,  talk the talk, and roll the dough!

This is not a recipe for your cardiologist. It's probably not a recipe for anyone who will be consuming a traditional Thanksgiving dinner two days from now, either. It's for a person whose doctor is concerned that their cholesterol is dangerously low and they're not getting enough butter fat in their diet.

 With that disclaimer out of the way , I'm sure you'll all just go ahead and eat 'em anyway.  This is not shortbread that resembles sweetened dog biscuits--it's a COOKIE.

Scottish  Shortbread*

*From Shortbread: 30 Sweet + Savory Recipes  by Jann Johnson.   This is a good recipe for those who love  using fancy cookie cutters. It pays to use the best quality butter you can find/afford. I also use baker's sugar for this one.

Preheat oven to 300 F.

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter. (Yes Ma'am, I do mean BUTTER. Margarine just  won't work. If you're a heart patient, these are not for you.)

1/2 cup granulated sugar.

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour*

*If you can find rice flour in the baking supply aisle at your grocery store, use it in this recipe. It makes for a crisper, more delicate cookie.  Substitute 1/3 cup rice flour for 1/3 cup of the regular flour adding a total of 2 cups combined flour.   If you can't find rice flour, don't worry. The shortbread will still be delicious.

Cream together the butter and sugar, then add the vanilla extract. Gradually sift the measured flour into the dough and combine well.  Chill the dough for 20-3o minutes.

Roll out 1/2 the dough at a time on a floured board to the desired thickness. (1/4 to 1/8 inch works well) Cut into any shapes you want. If you make round cookies and happen to own one of those cookie stamps, this is a good time to use it. I often sprinkle a little large-crystal sugar on top of the unbaked cookies. Colored sanding sugar is another possibility. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 10-12 minutes until light brown around the edges. It's important not to over bake them, they should be just slightly underdone at the center.  Allow the shortbread to cool for a minute or two before you transfer them to cookie racks, they're most fragile when warm. These can be decorated with frosting if you want, but are awfully good plain.

If you're feeling really creative, you can try adding some of the following to the basic dough:

grated lemon or orange  peel

1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger and 1 tsp ground ginger sifted in with the flour.  (very good!)

1/4 cup lavender blossoms. (Makes a good combination with the lemon peel.)

1/2 cup rough chopped walnuts, pecans or almonds.

These taste wonderful with any hot or cold drink you can imagine.