Chocolate Dipped Shortbread

Shortbread was one of the first things I learned to bake and it was at cookery club in year 3 of primary school. I made it so often that I had the recipe memorised at age 8 and would go around to people’s houses, ask if they wanted some shortbread and then proceed to waltz into their kitchen and make them some. Whilst I no longer invite myself to cook in other people’s kitchens, it is a recipe that I hold dear because it was the first, ya know?

Whilst I am away with work this week, a friend’s mum has kindly offered to put me up for a couple of nights and I wanted to make something to take with me, as a gesture of thanks. I was informed that shortbread and milk chocolate are favourites of hers and I set about combining the two.

I did alter my time tested recipe by adding vanilla bean paste, it is by no means necessary but does make for a delicious biscuit. I got to use my new fancy pants rolling pin too, never have I made such an even batch of biscuits!

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Ingredients:

• 180 g of plain flour
• 120 g of butter, at room temperature
• 60 g of caster sugar
• 0.25 tsp of salt
• 0.5 tsp of vanilla bean paste (optional)
• 150 g of milk/dark chocolate

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C and line (or grease) two baking trays.
2. If using vanilla, weigh the sugar out into a small bowl and rub the vanilla paste into the sugar with your fingers, set aside.
3. Chop the butter up in to chunks.
4. Weigh out your flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.
5. Add the butter to the flour and rub between your fingers until you have a crumb like consistency.
6. Add the (vanilla)sugar and mix with your hands until evenly distributed.
7. Squeeze the mixture together to form a dough.
8. Flour your work surface and rolling pin and then roll out your dough until ~6 mm thick.
9. Cut out your biscuits and place them on the baking trays.
10. Bake for 25-30 minutes until they begin to colour.
11. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely on a cooling rack.
12. Melt the chocolate (broken into chunks) in a glass bowl in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds.
13. Re-line your baking trays and then dip the biscuits into the chocolate and place on the trays.
14. Place the trays in the fridge to set, once you’ve dipped all your biscuits (for about 10-15 minutes).
15. Eat and enjoy!