Shortbread Sunday (and Saturday)

I've made my Christmas Menu list....what I am serving, what I need to buy, what I need to make in advance...all that jazz...and I've been going over it and re-writing it practically daily for the last week.  Now that it is well and truly December it is time to get my act together and do...do...do!!!

This year David and I are hosting our first Christmas Day Lunch...here at our house...only four guests, mind you, but...it's gotta be perfect and it's gotta scream Christmas...We are having a turkey (as much as I tried to convince David of Beef Wellington) and...all the trimmings of course!!  The thing is...I have a tiny tiny tiny kitchen and a tiny tiny tiny oven...so there will be juggling, and reheating and most likely a small mental meltdown.  But for now, I am trying my hardest to bake what ever will keep in advance, and the few things that I can freeze...

Friday I bought the butter....let it sit out (in the tv room....the kitchen is freezing), let it soften....let it get ready...to be creamed (by hand, of course)...to be turned into a batch of fantastic, smooth shortbread cookies.

Cept that didn't happen.

Saturday...the butter softened, it was creamed (by hand) and it was patted out and cut into cookies and baked and...what came out of the oven were certainly buttery...but they most certainly were not lovely Christmas shortbread...instead I found somesort of flattened buttery flakey disks with crispy edges. 

I have no idea what happened.  In a frantic instant message conversation with my mum she assured me (and that my grandmother agrees) that sometimes, with the shortbread, the first batch doesn't quite work....hmmmm...perhaps it was the flour? perhaps it was the butter? perhaps it was my freakishly warm hands?

I decided to blame the butter...the quality, the fat, the cows...and I so rushed (as carefully as one can on the icy pavement) to the corner store, bought some totally overpriced brand butter and sat it out...in the tv room...to soften...

And so, Sunday...and new day...a new cookie! NO spreading, no crisping...no disaster!