Classic Buttery Short Bread Cookies

Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). This will ensure that your cookies bake evenly. From my experience, not preheating the oven can result in undercooked cookies.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the all-purpose flour and salt. Always remember to sift your ingredients together to prevent any lumps in your cookies.

In another bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter until it has a creamy texture. This should take about 1 minute. Make sure your butter is at room temperature for the best results – cold butter doesn't cream as well.

Gradually add the granulated sugar into the butter, continually beating until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. The consistency and taste of your cookies depend a lot on this process, so take your time!

Mix the vanilla extract into the fluffy butter-sugar mixture.

Gently fold in the flour-salt mix until the mixture becomes a dough. Do not over-mix here; a light hand combines the ingredients just enough to create a tender, crumbly shortbread texture.

Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until it is approximately 1/2-inch thick. The thickness of your dough will determine how soft or crunchy your cookies will be: the thicker, the softer.

With a cookie cutter, cut out your desired shapes and place them onto a lined baking sheet.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until the cookies start to turn a lovely golden color on the edges. Be sure not to overbake, as shortbread can quickly go from perfect to burnt.

Allow your cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. They may be soft when they first come out of the oven, but they harden up into that perfect crumbly texture as they cool.