holiday shortbread cookies

wanna impress your friends/coworkers/family/significant others with the easiest and least time consuming cookie recipe ever?

then whip up a batch of shortbread. butter + sugar + flour + mixins. and make them holiday by mixing in white chocolate, dried cranberries, and pistachios. that's it. virtually impossible to screw up.

notice i said virtually impossible. because yes, you can screw these up. how? by being in such a holiday rush that you turn your oven on to broil instead of bake. and not notice until you've baked two sheet pans of cookies. and only figured it out when the bottoms of them aren't cooked. so pay attention this time of year. mistakes happen to the best of us.

cranberry, pistachio & white chocolate shortbread cookies
adapted from ina garten
30 minutes, plus chilling, makes 3 1/2 - 4 dozen

3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup chopped dried cranberries
1 cup roughly chopped pistachios
1 cup white chocolate chips

1. cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. mix in the vanilla extract.
2. in a separate bowl, whisk or sift together the flour and salt.
3. add the flour & salt to the butter mixture. mix on low speed until it just starts to come together. add the cranberries, pistachios, and white chocolate a half a cup at a time until it's incorporated. mix until the dough forms a ball.
4. roll into a log about 2 inches in diameter (roll it wider or skinnier depending on how big you want your cookies). roll the log in some wax paper.
5. chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
6. preheat the oven to 350F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
7. slice the log into 1/4 inch slices. place the slices on the sheet pan. they don't spread much, so they can be pretty close together.
8. bake for 10-13 minutes, or until the edges are just starting to brown.
9. remove from the pan and cool to room temp.