I love shortbread and am always surprised at the recipe variations you find for such a simple cookie. The recipes in my old cookbooks don't include vanilla. That is the way I made shortbread for years. The flavor came from the butter and the sugar. Newer recipe versions in the US and those from the UK include cornstarch. I have a friend from Scotland and she says her granny always added the cornstarch to make the cookie extra short (there is a lot of confusion about the term for cornstarch). I really like this KAF recipe, however. These are both beautiful and delicious cookies. What more could you ask for?

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