citrus cornmeal shortbread cookies

I felt like some cookies the other day.. so I looked in my Martha Stewart Cookie book to see what sounded good. I found these lovely gems. I chose this recipe because we had all of the ingredients, as the list was short, and usually the roll and slice cookies are easy. Well never underestimate a Martha Stewart recipe like that. These were not difficult, but took some modification. First note that it says to make the dough then roll into logs and place in plastic and put it in the fridge. Well my dough came out much to soft to roll into logs.. maybe it was because it was 85 degrees and 80% humidity, or maybe the dough just comes out

soft.. so I modified this step (see below). Then it came to the chill step.. it says an hour.. at an hour my logs were still mush, not suitable for slicing. At this point it was 9:30 pm and the bake time alone was estimated at 30-35min .. so i decided to let them chill over night.

Good idea.. they were nice and firm after work the next day. So i took them out, preheated the oven and continued on my way. The results were well worth the wait!! Here is the "modified" recipe, actually its just modified instructions. Modifications are in ()

I made a double recipe.. so dont be disappointed when your logs are not as big

Citrus Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons orange zest
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt

Directions

1. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until creamy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla and zest. Mix until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour, 2 tablespoons cornmeal, and salt; mix until well combined, about 3 minutes. Halve dough; shape each into a log (plop spoon fulls down onto plastic wrap, then wrap and form into a log) about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour.( I chilled mine overnight)
   
   
   
   
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place remaining 1/4 cup cornmeal on a sheet of parchment paper (or just on the counter). (Roll logs into a much more pleasing log shape, as they come out of the refrigerator with one side flat) ..Roll in cornmeal to coat. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, and space them 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake until pale golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on sheet on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.