Espresso Shortbread Cookies

We went to the beach this weekend. I thought long and hard about what cookies to make for the trip. At first I was going to make just classic oatmeal and raisin cookies. They could pass for breakfast cookies. But then I went down the list of my to-bake and saw coffee! Perfect! We wouldn't have time to stop for a coffee. We wouldn't be able to find any coffee on the beach. And because we are city people, we need our coffee.

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Ingredients

• 2 sticks butter - room temperature


• 1/2 cup sugar


• 2 cups flour plus more for rolling


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 tablespoon instant espresso


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy - about 3 minutes. Add vanilla extract and coffee. Beat until well combined.


2. Combine salt and flour together and stir into butter mixture. Stir in ground Chai tea and vanilla extract.


3. Form a ball from the dough. Wrap in a plastic wrap and refrigerate over night or freeze for 30 minutes.


4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Let the dough sit at room temperature for 5 minutes. Roll out the dough on floured surface into about 1/4 inch thick and cut out with cookie cutter.


5. Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool completely on a cooling rack. Make about 50 cookies.