Appendix and a late night Shortbread recipe

It's 11.30 am and I'm just having breakfast - so far today hasn't gone as planned, I've gotten nothing done. I do have a reason, had to take Thomas to the Doctors, he has suspected case of Appendicitis. The pain started last night and he woke me this morning because it was still there. I dropped him off at school afterwards, gave instructions that he was not to play sports and that if the pain worsened or if he felt even the tinyest bit sick I was to be called. Supposed to work tomorrow but I've arranged to have the day off just in case.

Last night didn't go to plan either, Cassie asked me to make Shortbread to take to her last class, they are having a little party and I completely forgot about it. I watched a movie until 1.30 and only remembered when I was passing through the kitchen. Instantly my tiredness left and I knew if I didn't bake something I'd lie awake all night. I decided to go ahead with the Shortbread even though it takes an hour to bake, I cleaned up while waiting. Cut it up immediately and seperated each piece for quick cooling.

Shortbread - makes 16 pieces
The recipe is in imperial, not metric, I used metric measuring cups and found that there was too much butter - added extra flour to get the dough firmer the first time I made them, last night I just added less butter.

1 1/2 cups plain flour
3/4 cup pure icing sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup of butter, softened
vanilla - Optional, original recipe didn't have it, I added 1/4 teaspoon.

Preheat oven to 150 oC (300 F)

Sift flour and icing sugar into bowl, add salt. Combine all ingredients well.

Knead butter into mix, making into a dough - I find it easy to use a spoon to mix the butter, the mix is really soft and sticks to the hands. Once it is fairly well combined then use clean hands to kead into a dough.

Press mixture firmly into 8 inch pie plate or shortbread mold. Bake for an hour. The shortbread should be pale in colour, not browned. Cut into wedges while still warm. Sprinkle with extra icing sugar.