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My eleven-month-old daughter, Kate, and I spend a lot of time together  in the kitchen. Whether I’m testing recipes, baking for fun, or preparing  dinner, she is often by my side, keeping me company with her singing  and clapping. Actually, she is less “by my side” than she is walking  around, trying to open cupboards and using wooden spoons and plastic  containers as musical instruments.

Recently, she discovered the box of decorating sugars and food  colorings I keep under the counter. From bottles of colorful pastes and  bags of gold and silver dragées to containers of decorating sugar and  nonpareils, these sumptuous ornaments would surely catch any baby’s curious eye. Knowing how Kate is attracted to anything shiny and sparkly, she quickly took hold of a brand new bottle of coarse blue decorating sugar. For the next 10 minutes, she happily marched around the kitchen, shaking it vigorously and singing along with the soft, sandy sound the crystals made as they bounced against the plastic.

Eventually, I decided to relocate Bunny to her bouncy seat in the living room. Although she generally dislikes being confined to the seat, I figured as long as she continued to play with the bottle of sugar, she’d be happy—at least for a few minutes. So, there we sat watching an episode of Julia and Jacques, I sipping a cup of coffee, our Maltese, Lilly, lounging on the sofa, and Kate playing with the sugar. As Julia and Jacques bantered and prepared mounds of soufflé potatoes, I excitedly chatted to the little ones about how magical it was to observe thin slices of potato puffing up in hot oil like little golden brown balloons.

I guess I was watching the potato show too intently, though, for at one point I realized my exclamations of, “Oh, how lovely!” and “Don’t those potatoes look delicious, Bunny!” failed to elicit any response. I looked over at Kate and saw that she was no longer shaking the sugar bottle. In fact, she had moved on from this activity and was having a splendid time pushing the now empty bottle through what seemed like mountains of blue sugar crystals. Somehow, the clever girl had twisted off the new top and poured the sugar onto the tray in front of her, into her seat, and onto the floor. It’s no wonder she had been quiet; she was in a virtual trance, dipping her now sticky blue hands in the sugar and sucking the stuff off her fingers. Even Lilly had gotten in on the act. She was standing beside Kate’s seat, quickly licking up as much sugar as she could. As soon as I wrapped my brain around the scene, I pounced and swooped her out of the chair, leaving Lilly to her own sweet devices.

Fearing, as only a new mother would, that my little one would perish from the shock of her first taste of real sugar, I whisked her into the nursery and extricated her from her blue-stained pumpkin pajamas. There was sugar in her diaper, on her tummy, and even her feet were blue. How did that happen? As I did what I could to remove all traces of sticky blue crystals, she giggled and squealed. Yes, I was tickling her and making her laugh with funny faces. I suspect, though, that she was actually still enjoying the experience of having been surrounded by baby-size hills of glittery blue crystals, as well as savoring the sweet taste that lingered on her tongue.

In celebration of my daughter’s adventure with sugar, I am sharing my recipe for Vanilla-Scented Shortbread. Of course, you can prepare these cookies in the traditional manner, but I have decorated them with, what else, sparkling blue sugar crystals.

Shortbread has always seemed somewhat of a daunting thing to me. I know, recipes for this buttery confection are usually quite simple and require only a handful of ingredients. But there, really, is the rub. With fewer ingredients, exact ratios and even baking times become all the more significant. I have prepared seemingly easy shortbreads that are too dry, too crumbly, or, at the other extreme, too loose, causing them to puff and expand undesirably in the oven. So, with this in mind, here are a few things I’ll suggest as you try this recipe.

First, when creaming the butter and sugar, do so just until the mixture is smooth. Avoid beating the ingredients until they are light and fluffy (as is suggested in most cake recipes), as we’re not looking to incorporate a lot of air here. We just want the butter and sugar to be well combined.

Next, I use both all-purpose flour and cornstarch in this recipe. Just a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch mixed with the flour results in a shortbread that has a subtly softer, more tender texture than one prepared with flour alone.

Most traditional shortbreads are prepared without any liquid, and my recipe usually doesn’t require it either. That being said, however, the weather, the temperature of the kitchen, and even the type of flour you use all affect the quality of your dough. If the dough seems too crumbly, add a bit of milk or cream just until it holds together. Obviously, you don’t want the dough to be too loose; you should be able to roll it out and cut it into shapes right away. The dough should also be firm enough to bake without resting. Just to be on the safe side, though, I like to chill my cut cookies for about 10 minutes in the refrigerator before I put them in the oven.

Although vanilla isn’t necessarily a traditional component of shortbread, I think it’s a delicious addition. This recipe lends itself well to vanilla extract or the seeds scraped out of a vanilla bean. Use whatever type and variety (Madagascar Bourbon, Tahitian, Mexican, etc.) you wish. The presence of vanilla is delightfully subtle here. The cookies exude an enticingly warm and delicate perfume that marries well with the buttery quality and tender texture of the finished shortbread.

Lastly, a word about using sanding or decorating sugar. Most decorated sugar cookie recipes call for sprinkling the cut cookies with sugar before baking. I prefer to do so after they are baked, as the sugar crystals remain intact, evenly dispersed, and they maintain their sparkly quality. To achieve this, I lightly brush the cooled cookies with egg whites (fresh or pasteurized), sprinkle the sugar generously over the tops, gently off the excess, and then set them on a rack to dry. This requires a bit more work, but the final result is worth it. I’m sure Kate would think so, too.

Makes about fourteen 3 1/2-inch cookies

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract or the seeds from 1 plump vanilla bean

1 to 2 tablespoons milk or heavy whipping cream as needed

Egg whites for brushing

Blue decorating or sanding sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, and salt in a medium bowl.

Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed just until smooth. Incorporate the vanilla extract or seeds. Reduce the mixing speed to medium low and gradually add the flour mixture, beating just until incorporated and the dough begins to form moist clumps. If the dough seems too dry, add a bit of milk or cream until it reaches the desired consistency.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently bring it together, forming it into a disc, and roll to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut the dough into desired shapes and arrange the cookies at least 1 1/2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until fragrant and very lightly browned around the edges.

Set the cookies on a rack to cool on the pan for about 3 minutes before removing them to the rack to cool completely.

Lightly brush the cooled cookies with a thin coating of egg whites. Sprinkle generously with sugar, gently shake off the excess, and set the cookies on a rack to dry completely, at least 20 minutes.

Store the shortbread in an airtight container between sheets of parchment for up to 2 weeks.