I rarely post recipes.

Sure I have professed my love for brownies, cream cheese and all things chocolate here, but it is atypical for me to entrust anyone with my recipes.

I’m usually not a recipe share-er, at least not until I have met you and determined you are worthy.

I kid. But I seriously love baking, and I covet the recipes that actually turn out well after much trial and error in my kitchen.

So after following recipes over at Rachel’s Mouthwatering Mondays for months, I could not resist joining in and sharing at least one recipe with you here.

Particularly my all time favorite shortbread cookie recipe that was a huge hit over the holidays. They are perfect for Valentine’s Day coming up as well.

Okay, before I go on with the instructions, allow me to say this up front.  It may sound complicated, but it is really simple.  I promise it is an incredibly versatile cookie dough, so you can pretty much add anything you like to it.  Rather than making these 2-layered linzer-like heart cookies,  you can always stick to a 1-layer cookie with cranberries and almonds, or half-dipped in chocolate.  The possibilities are endless!

Here is another version I made using the same dough.  I just rolled the dough into 1″ balls, placed a thumbprint in the center, and filled with almond slices.

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