"Eat butter first, and eat it last, and live till a hundred years be past." Old Dutch proverb

Here is a nod towards butter, real butter.  When baking or cooking, I always use real butter. I realize it should be used sparingly, but I hereby denounce margarine as a substitute. We've all heard that margarine is one molecule different from plastic, and while I'm no chemist, I will hold to that since I like butter. Anyway, I thought I would jot down the shortbread recipe I use and a few variations on the theme.
Here it is:

1/2 C butter, room temperature
1/3 C sifted powdered sugar
1 1/2 C AP flour
*Note: Do not add the flour all at once, depending on several things, temp, humidity, etc, it could take varying amounts and it's much easier to add more flour than liquid.

Roll out to about 1/4 in think, cut with cookie cutter and bake on lightly greased (or use parchment paper or silicone pan liners) at 325 degrees for about 20 min. I rotate the pan(s) ("pans" as I usually quadruple the recipe). Bake until just slightly browned. They're easy to over bake, so be careful.
*Note: For a cooler looking cookie, use a #40 cookie scoop, gently roll into balls and after placing on the pan, use the bottom of a glass that has a decoration on it to press cookie down. Use a mixture of AP flour and powdered sugar to dip the bottom of the glass into first so it won't stick to cookies.

And that's all. Of course, as I believe I made pretty clear, I like butter. So, the fewer ingredients to impede upon the glorious gift that is called butter, the better.

I do actually impede. The first variation is a bit outside the box. It is to add rosemary. I know, I know, it's usually used in savory dishes, but somehow it works. Simply add 2 T of very finely chopped rosemary, or ground if you prefer but I would only add 1 T or to taste as it's pretty concentrated that way.

The next would be orange shortbread. Add about 2 T of orange zest (basically one orange worth) and 1 T of pure orange extract or to taste.

Then pecan shortbread. I roast and chop about 1 C of pecans and add them to the basic recipe. You can add 1 t of almond extract if you like, I do because I love almond extract.

Now for the icing. It's very simple. The basic ratio is 2 C of powdered sugar to 2 T of liquid. The liquid you use depends on what flavor you want. If you're looking for just sweet, use milk and maybe 1/2 t vanilla.For the different shortbread, though, I use different flavors:

*Rosemary shortbread with lemon icing. 2 C powdered sugar, 2 T lemon juice.
*Orange shortbread with orange icing. 2 C powdered sugar, 2 T orange juice (and maybe 1/2 t orange extract for a little more pop).
*Pecan shortbread with almond icing. 2 C powdered sugar, 2 T milk (or whatever, but milk tastes better) and 1/2 t almond extract or to taste.

So, the moral of the story is 2-fold, one, butter is awesome, and two, as with all cooking and baking, there are some basics you need to know, but experiment and have fun with it. As in the case with shortbread, once you get a basic recipe, you can add whatever you like to it. The sky's the limit.
Buon Appetito!