Macadamia nut shortbread

1. In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour and brown sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs and starts to cling. Stir in macadamia nuts. Form mixture into a ball and knead until smooth.

2. Pat or roll dough on a lightly floured surface into an 11-1/4x6-inch rectangle. Using a crinkle cutter, if desired, cut into 3x3/4-inch or 2-1/4x3/4-inch strips. Place strips about 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake in a 325 degree F oven about 10 minutes or until bottoms just start to brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool. Store in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

4. To serve, sift powdered sugar lightly over cookies. Serve cookies alongside lemon curd for dipping, if desired. Makes 30 to 40 cookies.

To Present This As a Gift: You will need a white paper bag, pinking shears, shredded paper, small plastic container with lid, gold star stickers, and thin gold ribbon.

Trim the top of the bag with the pinking shears. Fill bag with shredded paper and shortbread. Fill plastic container with lemon curd. Place stickers on the bag and on the container lid. Loosely tie ribbon around bag.

Also try this: Use a delicate ribbon barrette to seal the bag.