Salted Toffee Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup shortening, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups flour

pinch salt

1/2 cup toffee bits

coarse sea salt

sugar for sprinkling

Preparation

Cream butter, shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add flour and mix until well blended.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface until fairly thin. Sprinkle with toffee bits and cover with plastic wrap. Gently roll over plastic wrap, pressing toffee bits into the dough. Remove plastic wrap and sprinkle lightly with sea salt, crushing salt between your fingers as you sprinkle. Cut out desired shapes, sprinkle lightly with sugar and place on an ungreased sheet pan, spacing 1/2 inch apart.

Bake at 350 for 10 to 14 minutes or until light golden. Remove from pan and cool on a cooling rack. You can cut any remaining scraps of dough into snack size pieces and bake these as directed. These won't be as pretty, but just as tasty. A dear friend of mine plays a game with leftover dough pieces like this and calls the game "States" - she bakes the scraps and everyone has to guess which state in our country the odd-shaped pieces might resemble! Store cookies in airtight container or freeze.

Notes:

You can vary the thickness of these cookies with wonderful results. I also made a version that was twice as thick and they received rave reviews as well. The thinner cookies were great as partner for the sorbet but we actually liked the thicker ones a little better for snacking - really either way, you can't go wrong!