Slice and Bake Cookies

I'm taking part in a monthly recipe challenge to try out new baking recipes with group of online friends. This is one of the recipes for our first month. The recipe has been kindly reproduced from the http://smittenkitchen.com/ blog. I'd never made cookies using this method before, and I was pleased with the result. They produce a softer crumbly cookie, that is similar to short bread in texture. I did find I had to add a bit of extra flour and icing sugar to the recipe as the dough was just too sticky to form into a ball when first going into the fridge. I added half a cup of chopped apricots, and half a cup of slivered almonds.

Slice-and-Bake Cookies
Makes about 50 cookies
230 g butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup icing sugar
2 large egg yolks
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoons vanilla or almond extract
2 cups plain flour

Options:
Grated zest of 2 oranges and 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Grated zest of 2 lemons and 1/4 cup poppy seeds
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots and 1/2 cup finely chopped pistachios
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Swap ¼ cup of flour for unsweetened cocoa

Beat butter until smooth, and add icing sugar until smooth and silky. Beat in egg yolks and any dried fruits, zest, nuts or seeds. Add flour until just mixed. Turn the dough out bench, wrap dough in plastic wrap or place in lidded container, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Form each piece of dough into a log that is about 2.5 to 3cm thick. Wrap the logs in glad wrap and freeze for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
While the oven is preheating, roll cookie logs in any coatings of your choice. Then, using a sharp slender knife, slice each log into cookies about 10 mm thick. Place cookies on baking sheets, leaving about 1.5 cm space between them.
Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, or until they are set but not browned. Transfer the cookies to cooling racks to cool to room temperature.