Brown Sugar Shortbread

Gosh, I cannot believe how long it's taken me to post these!  I made these for my last day at my old job this past June.  I loved them.  They were ADDICTING.  You couldn't just put one in your mouth and be done.  Thankfully, I cut them into small triangles so they were little pieces! 
They were simple and just perfect.  They took no time at all to put together and bake and they were buttery, crumbly, and caramel-y, just like shortbread should be. 
According to the blog I found these on, you can make them chewy or crunchy.  I opted for chewy, but they did still have that crumbly crunchy edge to them. I ony included the directions for the chewy, but if you are interested in the crunchy, check out Night Baking's blog.

Brown Sugar Shortbread

Makes 2- 8" pans

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups flour

Heat the oven to 325F.

Beat the butter, sugar, and salt until creamy, about two minutes. Do not over mix. Gradually beat in the flour. You may need to work in the last half-cup with your hands. The dough will be stiff.

Divide the dough in half. 

 

Grease two 8" pans (round or square- I used square), line with parchment, and spray the parchment as well. Press half of the dough into one pan and the rest into the other pan. Smooth the top with the bottom of a buttered measuring cup. Prick the dough with the fork in a decorative concentric circle pattern. Refrigerate, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

Bake 25-30 minutes until lightly brown along the edges. Remove and cool for about 5 minutes. You need to slice the shortbread while still warm. If they cool completely, they will crumble. For the chewy bars, run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cookies, then invert the pan; slice into wedges. For the crispy bars, transfer them to a cutting board so you don't cut through the silpat, and then cut all the way through the scored marks. Transfer warm cookies to a rack and cool completely.

 

Enjoy!