Homemade Shortbread: What started out as a gift, has become a holiday tradition

What started as a sweet gift from our neighbors, has turned into a holiday tradition of making homemade shortbread.

Joe and Judy were the very first neighbors we met when we moved to our Asheville home, and we quickly became good friends. After several years, they decided to downsize and move to a community not too far away. They started going through their belongings for want they wanted to take with them and things they felt they no longer needed. We happily became new owners of canning equipment, beautiful Christmas ornaments, and a fancy shortbread mold along with the cookbook for it.

Our first attempt wasn't very pretty, but it was eatable. We followed the recipe to the letter, but we learned that the trick is to press the dough firmly into the mold. We were apprehensive at first because we thought we would break the mold, but nope, you have to "mash" it in there (as they say in the south).

And now we make some mighty fancy shortbread!

Only problem is we also like to share it with friends which is kind of difficult to make lots of with only one mold, so after searching around and comparing prices, we found one that we really liked on eBay, and it made it to our house right on time for Christmas.

Here's to many more years of holiday traditions, spending time with loved ones, working our way through the cookbook trying every recipe, and many more years of running to burn off the fat from eating these tasty shortbread cookies...

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year wrapped up in one happy bundle of love,

Eve & Bart