Jack-O-Lantern Cookies

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Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter softened
• 1/4 cup sweetener
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 2/3 cups flour
• small pinch of salt
• Frosting:
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1/2 c. butter softened
• 4 T. honey or agave
• 1 t. vanilla

Directions

I have tested this recipe with four sweeteners:

* rice syrup--a personal favorite, subtly sweet with no extra flavor

* unrefined cane sugar (such as Sucanat or Rapadura)--very nice, like a brown-sugar cookie (cookies are light brown, not white)

* agave nectar--a nice low-glycemic option. Very good.

* xylitol--this was my husband's favorite, another low-glycemic choice

1. Put butter out to soften. This could take 20-30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

3. In a mixing bowl, with a hand mixer, beat the soft butter until fluffy. This step is important to make the cookies light and crispy.

4. Add sweetener and vanilla and continue to beat until both are incorporated.

5. Add flour and salt slowly, mixing until a stiff batter is formed.

6. Put parchment paper or a silpat on the cookie sheet.

7. Flavor and cut as desired.

8. CHILL before baking. Cover the shortbread tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least two hours or up to 4 days. If you don't chill, the shortbread will spread.

9. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until lightly browned just around the edges. Thicker cookies need a little more time, very thin cookies need less.

10. Remove the cookies to cooling racks.

1. Make the dough according to the recipe.

2. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and spread the dough out to desire thickness by patting it with your fingers. You can roll it out with a rolling pin if you want, but make sure to roll it on the parchment paper.

3. CHILL for at least 2 hours or up to 4 days. If you don't chill, the cookies will spread and lose their shapes.

4. After chilling, remove dough from the pan by pulling up the parchment paper. Leave the dough on the paper and put a new sheet of parchment paper in the pan. Put the cookie cutter right into the dough. Place cut outs on parchment paper in the pan. The dough will soften as you work with it, so CHILL AGAIN until firm before baking.

5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

6. Remove cookies from refrigerator and place immediately in the oven. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Thicker cookies need a little more time, very thin cookies need less.

Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Beat in honey or agave. Add vanilla.

Color the frosting to your liking using Seelect Natural orange flavoring.

You can frost the cookies and leave them as plain pumpkins, or you can use grain-sweetened chocolate chips to create the jack-o-lantern faces.