Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies With Pomegranates
Today. Today I've got brown sugar shortbread cookies for y'all (beats me why this East Coaster right here is using the word "y'all"). And y'all, I've never ever shared a shortbread cookie recipe on the blog before. Craziness.
But if I'm posting a shortbread cookie recipe, imma do it right. Imma go all out. Imma make those shortbread cookies brown sugar shortbread cookies, completely dairy-free, topped with a lovely pink pomegranate glaze, and sprinkled with fresh, juicy pomegranate seeds. Tis the season (for pomegranate seeds)!
Wanna know why I used brown sugar instead of the expected granulated sugar in these shortbread cookies? Okay, I shall tell you.
I used brown sugar because it provides SO MUCH MORE flavor and tenderness and melt-in-your-mouthness to the cookies than white sugar does.
And you know what else I added to this shortbread cookie dough? Cinnamon. BOOM.
The addition of both the brown sugar and cinnamon provides these cookies with a far richer taste than a basic white sugar, cinnamon-less shortbread cookie will ever have.
But even with these extra additions, these pomegranate shortbread cookies contain just six ingredients. That's only counting the dough, though. The glaze brings the total up to eight ingredients. If you do the complicated math, that means the glaze has two ingredients.
And then there are the fresh pomegranate seeds. Which, if also counted as an ingredient, now provide us a new grand total of nine ingredients. Still a pretty low number, I would say.
Whew, so much math. Subtracting. Adding. I'm tired now.
Okay, so we mentioned that these shortbread cookies are packed with flavor and are rich and tender. They're also crispy and flaky but begin to melt in your mouth as soon as they enter it. And they're the ideal thickness (or thinness).
Here's the catch: the brown sugar does make the dough a bit more finicky and tricky to work with. It'll take a little extra patience and effort to roll the dough out. But the extra flavor and tenderness the brown sugar affords make it worth it.
That's enough about the cookie base. Let's talk about the glaze now.
Okay, the glaze. It's pink. But not from food coloring. It's completely naturally colored. With pure pomegranate juice. Brillianttttttttt, riiiiiiiiight???
So. Confectioners sugar. Pomegranate juice. Mixed together. Yielding a two-ingredient, naturally colored, sweet, glossy, pink, delicious glaze. That about sums it up, y'all (I promise that was the last one).
I like to spread my glaze in a circle in the center of each cookie, leaving an empty border all around. But, if you prefer, you can drizzle the glaze over each cookie, or spread the glaze over the entire surface of the cookie. Or you can design the glaze another way, but you'll have to come up with the idea on your own, because I'm not that creative.
Last but not least: the pomegranate seeds!
Top the glaze with a sprinkle of fresh pomegranate seeds before it sets. And not only will you have a dairy-free, delicious, rich, flavorful, crispy, flaky, tender brown sugar shortbread cookie, you'll have the most beautiful brown sugar shortbread cookie you've ever laid your eyes upon.
Brown sugar pomegranate glazed shortbread cookies with pomegranate seeds - you are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, k have a good day.
Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies with Pomegranates
Yield: about 28 cookies
1 cup oil
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 ½ cups packed flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Glaze:
1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
2-3 tablespoons pomegranate juice
Pomegranate seeds, for garnishing
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth.
2. Pour the flour, cinnamon, and salt over the wet ingredients and mix everything together until dough forms.
3. Divide dough into two and wrap each piece in parchment paper. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Roll out first piece of dough to ¼” thickness on the parchment it was wrapped in, flouring top of dough and rolling pin. Cut out circles with a round cutter. Space circles out onto baking sheets. Reroll dough as necessary and then repeat process with second piece of dough.
6. Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes, until the bottoms and edges are golden brown. Let cookies firm up and cool completely on baking sheets before moving and glazing.
7. In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioner’s sugar and pomegranate juice till a thick yet pourable glaze forms. Spread or drizzle glaze over cooled cookies. Sprinkle pomegranate seeds over glaze before it sets.
