Berries on the Wreath Shortbread Cookies

For the prep:

1. Pull out two sheet pans and set aside. Line each sheet with parchment paper.

For the dough:

1. Place soft butter in a medium-size mixing bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula until nice and smooth.
2. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix together by hand for about 30 seconds until well blended.
3. Add the flour and cornstarch. Stir until dry ingredients are incorporated. The dough will be a little shaggy, but will start to come together.
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and gather into a ball. Knead 5-6 times until smooth and all the small pieces are worked in. If the dough seems sticky, knead it again with a tablespoon of extra flour on your work surface.
5. Divide the dough into two portions. Form each portion into a ball again and flatten it with your hand to form a flat disk. Turn the disks to coat both sides with flour. Set one portion aside.
6. Roll out the dough to an approximate ¼-inch thickness (see Café Tips above in the post). Move the dough several times as you’re rolling it out so there’s always a thin layer of flour beneath your dough. Also, keep your rolling pin, lightly dusted with flour.
7. With a scalloped, round cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and transfer them to a sheet pan using a thin, metal spatula, leaving 2 inches between each cookie.
8. Use a mini round cookie cutter, a large pastry tip or any round hollow utensil that’s ½ -¾-inch in diameter (I use my apple corer tool) to cut out the center of each circle, forming a “wreath”.
9. Re-roll scraps as many times as needed to use up the dough. Repeat with the second portion of dough.
10. Place cutouts in the refrigerator, uncovered, for at least one hour or up to 24 hours.

When ready to bake:

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
2. Remove the cutouts from the refrigerator and bake for 14-18 minutes, or until just beginning to turn golden at the edges. Repeat with the second pan of cutouts. If the center opening has spread a bit in the oven, you can use the same small cutter and reinforce it right when the cookies come out of the oven and are still hot. If you wait to do this, the cookies will crack.
3. Cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

For the glaze:

1. Combine powdered sugar, 4 tablespoons half-and-half, vanilla extract and almond extract (if using) in a medium-size bowl. Mix until smooth. The glaze should be fairly thick, but pourable. Add a little more half-and-half if too thick. Add more powdered sugar if it’s too thin. (See the picture above in the post.)
2. Transfer the glaze to a small shallow bowl (a little larger than your cookies).
3. Hold onto the edges of a cookie and dip the top surface into the glaze, being sure all of the surface touches the glaze. Pull the cookie straight up out of the glaze and allow the excess glaze to drip into the bowl for about 15-20 seconds. (You can gently shake the cookie back and forth and up and down to get it to drip a little faster.) Then quickly flip the cookie to the right side up and give it a gentle jiggle to allow the glaze to flow evenly over the surface. Repeat with the remaining cookies. See pictures and a video in the post above, demonstrating this Dip, Drip and Flip technique.
4. Transfer each cookie to a wire rack after dipping. While the glaze is still wet, add the “berries” and “snow”. I like to dip 3 or 4 at a time then add the berries and snow before dipping more cookies.

For the “berries” and “snow”:

1. Using a small spoon or your fingers, give each wreath, 3 sprinkles of red and pink nonpareils, forming clusters of berries. I like to use 1 larger red nonpareil and a sprinkle of the tiny red and pink nonpareils for each cluster but feel free to be creative here.
2. Add a small sprinkle of white nonpareils in between the berries, for the "snow:
3. For a pretty look, add 1 small rosemary leaves to each cluster of berries, if desired.
4. Allow the icing to dry before serving.

For storage:

1. I like to let these cookies sit out for 12-24 hours before layering or stacking them in an airtight container. If gifting these cookies, I also let them dry for 12-24 hours before stacking them between parchment paper in a gift box.