Puppy Cookies

Hi Wy,

I wrote your sister a letter for her birthday, so it’s only fair I do the same for you. The trouble is, you’re only turning one year old today, so I don’t yet know you well enough to write a decent letter. But I’ll try to tell you about yourself anyway.

You have been described by many people who love you as a happy baby. I haven’t been around too many babies, but you strike me as having an intrinsic happiness about you. Though you haven’t been here long, I admire that quality about you, and I’m interested to see how it develops as you grow.

So far, you seem to have an interest in music. You liked it when I tapped on the toy xylophone while we played at Christmas, and your mom tells me you like the toy instruments in your toy chest the best. The great thing about liking music is your dad, aunt (not me!), and uncle are talented when it comes to playing instruments and singing. I’m sure they will teach you all there is to know.

Though this aunt doesn’t have much any musical talent, I think we’ll still be pals because you really like to eat. I also like your insatiable curiosity, and I think it’s good to always keep exploring. But do you really need to empty the socks from your sister’s drawer every day? And can you please not crawl into the dog kennel with June?

Speaking of June, since your birthday invitation had a puppy on it, I thought you might like to see some puppy cookies as a virtual birthday treat. I used a shortbread recipe, but in hindsight, I wonder if  a sugar cookie recipe would have been the better choice. I had a very difficult time getting the shortbread dough to come together, but so it goes sometimes.

These puppy dog cookies were a good cookie to make for a little boy born in February because the heart-shaped cookie cutter I just used for Valentine’s Day was nearby. I cut out a vanilla heart and a chocolate heart, and I split the heart I wanted to use for ears down the middle. Then I took the heart I wanted to use as the puppy’s face and placed in on a baking sheet so the point faced the top.

I placed the edges of the broken heart down along the edges of the full heart to resemble ears. Then I pinched the sides together so they didn’t fall apart. This step was very important.

When the puppy cookies baked and cooled, I decorated them with royal icing, sprinkles, and red hots. You could use other candies or chocolate chips too. Pretty simple. Happy Birthday Wyatt!

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Shortbread Cookies

Author Ina Garten of FoodNetwork

Ingredients

• 3 sticks butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Cream the butter and sugar until just combined.
2. Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.
3. Whisk together the flour and salt in a separate bowl, then add them to the butter and sugar.
4. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together, then dump onto a surface dusted with flour.
5. Shape the dough into a flat disk, then wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
6. Roll out the dough to 1/2-inch thickness and cut with a cookie cutter and place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown.
8. Remove and allow to cool to room temperature.

Notes

To make the cookies seen in this post, I made two batches of shortbread. For the vanilla shortbread cookies, I followed the recipe as written above. For the chocolate shortbread cookies, I substituted 1/4 cup of cocoa powder for 1/4 cup of flour.