Holiday Shortbread Houses with Nutella^®

HOW TO MAKE SHORTBREAD HOUSE COOKIES

1. 

   STEP 1

   In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together. Add the butter and knead for 1-2 minutes until the dough becomes pliable. You can knead with your hands or with a dough attachment on a stand or electric mixer.

2. 

   STEP 2

   Roll out the shortbread dough between 2 sheets of baking paper until it reaches a thickness of around 1/5 of an inch.

3. 

   STEP 3

   If you don’t have a cookie cutter, you can create your own cookie shape with cardboard. Cut your cardboard into the shape of a house (a triangle on top of a square) and use it as a stencil. Use a knife to cut around the stencil to create your shortbread cookie shapes. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

   Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F) and position the baking rack in the middle of the oven. Transfer the dough shapes onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-11 minutes, remove from the oven and let them cool down on the tray.

4. 

   STEP 4

   Fill a piping bag fitted with a small nozzle (about 2 mm) with the Nutella^®, pipe 5g (1 tsp) of Nutella^® on half of the biscuits and assemble with the other half. You can also use piping bags to decorate your shortbread houses with details of windows, a roof and a door.

   If you want to turn your shortbread cookies into tree decorations, modify step 3 and use a piping nozzle to make small holes at the top of every dough shape. Once your biscuits are baked, sandwiched and decorated, string a ribbon though the holes, tie a knot and hang as decoration for all to admire!