Mary MacLeod Shortbread

Shortbread is my favourite kind of cookie. Period.
Christmas is when shortbread gets to shine! You can find shortbread in pretty much every food store in the city.

Toronto has a couple of shops dedicated to shortbread. One of my favourite shops is Mary MacLeod Shortbread.
Mary MacLeod Shortbread is located on 639 Queen Street East.

The first time I visited this shop, I was taking the streetcar, and it was getting pretty late into the day. I called them to find out what time they were closing, and although they were closing within 5 minutes, they waited for me! As if that didn’t make my day already, when I stepped in they offered me my choice of shortbread! That might have been the moment I fell in love with this store.

Mary’s has been around since 1981, and the shortbread is handmade in small batches. When I walk into the shop this time, I am offered a cookie (yay!) and select a Cranberry Almond shortbread cookie. It’s good, studded with almonds and cranberry, but not my favourite. My favourite is the plain shortbread, and the chocolate crunch. Mmmm. I love these cookies, because they are heavy and taste like real butter. Shortbread is not meant to be light! Another favourite of mine are the butterscotch fingers. These moist cookies offer the same rich shortbread taste, but with a chewy twist of butterscotch!

Mary’s also sells shortbread in many different forms. You can buy a single shortbread cookie from the glass display case, or pick up some of the prepackaged sets. The packaged sets feature festive shapes, and my favourite were the snowmen shaped shortbread. Mary’s is open daily. Stop by to pick up a last minute gift!