Brrr! What a COLD week we had last week. I know it was that way in most of the country – but that thought did not warm me as I was walking to work in the single digits (“feels like -30something” with the windchill). I seriously bundled up and wasn’t ashamed – I had my mittens, scarf, hat AND furry hood. Don’t worry, I took a selfie for you.

Anyway, there’s not much you can do when the weather’s cold besides bundle up, eat a lot of soup, run on a treadmill – and of course bake! Don’t you agree? And with the weather so cold, it was only fitting to make a buttery shortbread cookie (borrowed from Ina Garden) – and shape them like mittens. Cute, don’t you think?

Mitten Cookies! (Or Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies)

Here’s what you need:

• 3/4 pound butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup semi-sweetened chocolate chips

Here’s what you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar. Mix well with an electric mixer until combined. Add in vanilla and mix well.
3. Add in flour and mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dough should be well combined and not powdery. Shape dough into a ball and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
4. After dough is chilled, roll out the dough and cut with your cookie cutter into fun shapes. I thought I had a mitten cutter – but I didn’t. Whoops! So instead I free cut a few fun shapes (beer, a B for B, and some more) and then made a mitten stencil out of thick paper and traced that with a knife.
5. Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges are light brown.
7. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Once cool, you can melt chocolate and dip your dough shapes in them!

1. Put about 1 c. chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Your chocolate won’t be melted yet (likely) but continue to stir and nuke the chocolate in 30 second intervals until it’s fully melted- this will help to ensure the chocolate doesn’t burn.
2. Dip the cookie in the chocolate. I dipped the bottom of the mittens and then sprinkled them with sprinkles to make them the way they are. But you could also drizzle you cookies with chocolate as well.

Enjoy!