Cinnamon-Spiced Shortbread

Forty years ago, Ina Garten tasted shortbread that she’s thought about for decades. The recipe came from Eli Zabar, owner of E.A.T., a New York City restaurant known for its pastries. “I remember thinking, This is the perfect shortbread,” she said. “I’ve used it for so many things, including a crust for a raspberry tart.” Yes, that famous raspberry tart from her first cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook.

In this new recipe from her new cookbook, Go-To Dinners, Garten adds autumnal flavors to the buttery cookie. “I like spices that you aren’t quite sure what they are, but the flavor is familiar in some way,” she says. When the shortbread is hot right out of the oven, the apple-pie spices fill your home with warm aromas, enticing anyone within a mile radius to saunter into the kitchen. In Garten’s case, that would be her husband Jeffrey.

“Oh, he's the worst. He's just the worst," she says. "Whatever I make he thinks is the best thing he’s ever had, so he’s never the taster,” says Garten, who instead relies on her own instincts when testing recipes. One version of these cookies originally incorporated cardamom, but the more she tested it, the less it worked—they all tasted different. So she stuck with classic fall flavors that definitely bring that familiar, cozy warmth.