Coconut Rum and Brazil Nut Shortbread

Not quite sure why I was in the mood to make something tropical. I haven't been thinking about going anywhere in the caribbean, or been listening to tropical-island music or anything. I guess as I sat in my kitchen, trying to think about what I could possibly make with the ingredients I had on-hand, it just struck me. I had some left-over brazil nuts, and some leftover malibu rum! So, what better thing to do then to combine them into a nice buttery bit-sized cookie?!

Coconut Rum and Brazil Nut Shortbread

(Yields 16 bite sized cookies)

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature

- 1/3 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling

- 1 tsp artificial rum extract

- 2 tsp Malibu coconut rum

- 1/8 tsp salt

- 1 cup all-purpose flour

- 3/4 cup brazil nuts, salted, lightly roasted and smashed into tiny chunks

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350degrees

2. Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in rum extract, Malibu and salt; combining until the dough comes together.

3. Add in the smashed nuts until well incorporated.

4. Take heaping tablespoons of dough and roll them into spheres. Roll these spheres of dough in the remaining sugar and place on a baking sheet. Continue forming cookies until all the dough is used up. If you want, you may sprinkle more sugar on the cookies.

5. Flatten the spheres slightly with a glass (touching up the cookies if necessary). Place in the oven and bake for 15mins or until golden.

6. Cool cookies on a wire rack, share and enjoy!

These cookies, although small, pack a really intense flavor. I simply love the brazil nuts, and will definitely be using them in my baking adventures sometime in the near future (although they are kind of expensive). Hmmm... I wonder what I could possibly use brazil nuts in (besides cookies that is)?