Shortbread--Sweet Simple, and Naturally Vegan!

You know what's really great? Finding something you love and realizing it's already vegan. No substitutions, no changes, just plain and simple follow the recipe. The first thing Kady and I actually baked together was shortbread thumbprint cookies. You can use any old recipe, but the one we used has great ratings at: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/raspberry-and-almond-shortbread-thumbprints/detail.aspx

We are big believers in making do with what you have. Of course there are excepts to that rule, but generally a little change won't hurt anything. In the case of this recipe, we left out the almond extract and used vanilla instead. We also left off the icing the original recipe called for, because powdered sugar in Honduras has a strange (soap-like!) flavor. Remember, being vegan doesn't have to be difficult! ;). However, we know you can't just live off cookies, so we'll be posting more recipe and meal ideas soon. In the meantime, enjoy some cookies. All you need are these five simple ingredients:

Gather Up:

• 1 cup softened butter (that's 2 sticks)
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (of 1/2 t almond extract if you prefer)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• jelly of your choice 

Put it together:

1. Turn your oven up to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a bowl, cream your butter and sugar until smooth 'n creamy. Add the vanilla, mix thoroughly. Mix in the flour. The dough will be dry--it's supposed to be! It just needs to be able to hold together in balls.
3. Roll the dough into desired sized balls, and put them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Put a thumbprint in each one and fill with jelly.
4. Bake for 14 to 18 minutes in preheated oven, or until the bottoms start to get golden.

Let cool (if you can wait that long!) & most importantly: ENJOY!