Eggless Cooking: Minty Irish Shortbread Cookies

This will be the first in a series of eggless recipes I've discovered and tried.   I found a recipe over at Feeding Big and added my own twist to it...chocolate mint leaves from my garden!  You could also use any type of mint leave for this, though.  It's a little less sweet than your typical cookie, but light and flakey and fun.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup (2 sticks) Irish unsalted butter, room temperature (regular butter can be substituted, but Irish butter is best because of it's high fat content)
• 1/2 cup (+2  tablespoon sugar reserved...can use colored sugar for extra effect)
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus one palmful for work surface)
• A few sprigs of fresh mint

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Soften butter on counter (or try these methods).  Remember Irish Butter breaks down quickly because of it's high fat content, so don't take the butter out too soon.
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
3. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
4. In a small bowl add 1/2 cup sugar to the butter and gently mash it into the butter with a fork. With a spoon stir the butter and sugar until they are fluffy and light. 
5. Slowly add flour while mixing with an electric mixer at low speed. Continue until dough comes together to form a ball.
6. Chop a small handful of the mint leaves (to taste) and mix into dough, reserving enough whole mint leaves to press one or two into each cookie (I use the bottom leaves for chopping, and reserve the smaller top leaves as they fit on the cookies better).
7. In your hands, roll small balls of the dough no more than an inch in diameter.  Press a mint leave on the top of the ball and then smash directly onto prepared baking sheet it with a flat instrument (a plate, jar, lid, kitchen mallet, whatever).   Should be about 1/4 of an inch thick.  Space 1 in apart.
8. Lightly sprinkle reserved sugar  over cookies.  Colored sugar can be used for effect.
9. Cook at 300 for about 15 to 25 minutes (until cookies just start to turn golden brown).  Cool on wire rack, and enjoy!   (Should be stored in airtight container for no more than 3 days).

FUN IDEAS TO TRY: For a more St. Patrick's Day flair, you could arrange three or four mint leaves to look like a shamrock. Or you could put a real clover on, as they are edible (WARNING THOUGH: Some people are allergic, so you should start with munching on one to see if you're in that group. Also, eating large amounts of clover at once is not suggested because in warm climates they can contain small amounts of cyanide...which is not as scary as it sounds, since cyanide won't hurt you in very small quantities. Clovers that grow in cold climate for some reason don't carry this chemical.)

If you give it a try, please stop by and leave a comment and let me know how it came out.