Making the Shortbread Cookie DoughIn the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth.

Turn the mixer down to low and add the granulated sugar.

Turn the mixer back up to medium-high and beat the butter and sugar until well incorporated and fluffy--about 30 seconds.

Mix in the vanilla extract.

Stop the mixer and add in the almond flour, powdered sugar, and salt. 

Turn the mixer to low and beat until lightly mixed. 

Turn the speed back up to medium-low and finish mixing until all the ingredients are well incorporated. The dough will be ready when it starts pulling away from the sides of the mixing bowl.

Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides and the bottom of the mixing bowl and give a final mix by hand to ensure everything blended together nicely. 

Lay a piece of plastic wrap down on the work surface and scrape the dough onto the plastic.

Pat the dough out into a rectangle about 1/2" thick and wrap tightly in the plastic wrap.

Chill in the fridge until firm--about 1 to 1 1/2 hours or even overnight.

Rolling and Cutting the CookiesOnce the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 325º and line two sheet pans with parchment paper.

Remove your shortbread dough from the fridge and cut it in half. 

Place one half of the dough on your work surface, and return the other half of the dough to the fridge. We'll roll that later.

To roll out the cookies, you can either dust your work surface and rolling pin with a little powdered sugar or roll out your cookie dough between two sheets of plastic--Rolling between the plastic keeps you from adding any additional sugar to the dough!

Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough about 1/4" thick. 

From here, you can cut out your favorite cookie shapes--either freehand with a kitchen knife or by using cookie cutters. For this recipe, I used a round cutter and a heart cutter that were about 2.5" - 2.75" wide.

Repeat the above steps with the remaining dough in the fridge.

Make sure to gather any scraps of dough leftover from your cutouts. Those can be rerolled and cut into cookies too!

Tip: if using a cookie cutter with a detailed edge-like a scalloped or fluted edge--pop your cookie cutouts in the freezer for 15-20 until they're firm, before baking. This will help keep the shape of the edges.

Baking the Cookies:Once you've cut out your shortbread cookies, bake in a 325º oven for 11-13 minutes. You'll know they're done when the cookies have puffed and are lightly browned around the edges.

Allow the cookies to cool and set completely on the sheet pan before moving them or icing them.