Short Dough (Butter cookie dough for tart shells & cookies)

Makes enough for 2 8″ tarts or 1 dozen medium cookies

2 sticks of Butter

1/2 C Sugar

1/2 t vanilla extract or freshly grated lemon peel

2 large eggs

3 C All-Purpose Flour

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes).  Don’t forget to scrape down the bowl half way through mixing – this ensures a consistent dough, without any pockets of one single ingredient.  If you dough is not mixed well, a clump of butter in your tart will melt and leave a hole.

Add one egg and vanilla, mix until completely incorporated, add the second and mix again.  Scrape down the bowl one more time.

Add all the flour at once and mix on low speed until just incorporated.  You don’t want to see any patches of white – the dough should be a consistent color.  The dough will also be slightly crumbly.

Turn dough out onto a large piece of plastic wrap.  Gently press dough together to form two disks.  Wrap individually and chill for at least 20 minutes. (Dough will keep in the refrigerator for one week and frozen for 2 months – use one dough immediately and freeze the second for later use)

Once dough is chilled, roll out into a circle 2″ larger than your tart shell.  Carefully roll the dough up onto your rolling pin and unroll over the tart pan.  Ease the dough down into the corners of the pan.  You do not want to stretch the dough at this point – that causes your sides to shrink while baking.

Press down on the pan edges to remove excess.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden brown.

Cool and unmold.