Are better things out there than the simple pleasures of life? Dip chocolate shortbread cookies into chocolate and let’s see!
There are few easier things to bake than shortbread cookies in the kitchen. Probably oatmeal cookies are one of the very few that could get ahead of them but not in cuteness. Not like the rectangular shortbread were such a pretty sight to behold but we aren’t going that way anyway.
Shortbread or butter cookies are made out of flour, butter, salt, baking powder and some kind of sweetener like sugar, honey or anything nowadays fancy stuff. Most of the time, there aren’t any second thought of decorating or doing anything else with these cookies, as they not meant to be on that height of the culinary rank.
They are like the pawns on the chess boards or the privates in the army. They can be readily available in huge numbers under a short notice and fairly disposable. Not very effective, nor pretty but useful to do the job, they were designed to do.
Translating the above said butter cookies are destined to nibble on while watching Netflix or offering them to an unexpected visitor half ashamed that we haven’t got any proper dessert with the coffee.
One of their great strength is that they are very well preservable without any care or attention for months at a time. As it is supposed to be a dry cookie, and if we keep it that way, mold won’t start to take a fancy in either thus let the cookie live an almost eternal McDonald’s french fries long life.
In cookies terms, anyway. What kind of unattended grazing cookie would be left untouched by the claws of a cookie hunting family? Even the sickly and ill looking got eaten up in a well desserted family home in a month let alone a dessertless one.
Every shortbread is created equal. But some are more equal than the others. Some get the attention and care that in other places are reserved only for cakes or even tortes. This was a case in an Austrian -not Australian that’s Lamington- pastry shop in 1950, too. In the sleepy town of Bad Ischl a pastry chef called Richard Kurt poured all his love on butter cookies creating the Ischler.
This recipe is not about the Ishler though or at least not the original one. This is about easy-peasy butter cookies that are raised about a couple of notches of their abilities reaching their dreamlike potential without much hassle.
One of the distinctive characteristics of the shortbread is their relative whiteness which is a result of elongated low temperature baking in the oven. This distinctive mark will be ruined in the moment, we resolute ourselves to make chocolate butter cookies and mix some cocoa powder with the flour.
After the chocolate butter cookies are done, cooled down and survived the first hour of their life, the real tinkering starts. We can let out a smug smile and deserve a hypothetical pat if we didn’t use the small, bite size cookie cutter when cutting the pastry. Otherwise just labor on.
Probably the best jam to be used here, are the dark berry type ones, as those are a great complementary to chocolate but lacking of that, any type of jam can be used. Even the ones in the sugar free condiments page.
Half of the cookies are going to be the bottom of this beauty and those half needs to be spread with jam. Not as much as it drips down on the sides but definitely not a thin layer either. When the jamming is done the other half of the batch can be placed one by one on the jam and slightly pressed down. Just as much as the jam evenly spreads around.
When it’s done, we can put them in the fridge or just simply left on a bugless place until the two-chocolate cookie layer absorbs the jam and stick together nicely. Depending of the thickness of the jam it will take at least a half an hour in the fridge.
The two layers doesn’t need to be rock solid just strong enough to stay together until we dip them into the melted chocolate. This is going to be a messy couple of minutes but well worth having.
In case we are in a rush and scared of scorching melted chocolate, we can spoon the chocolate on top of the little chocolate butter cookies. We can use a cooling rack placed over a baking paper when spooning the chocolate on. This way we still get the smooth surface, we would get with dipping while easily able to scrape the precious chocolate up after it cooled down.
When the chocolate has dried, the butter cookies are ready to be served, however still hard. Some like it this way others don’t. Depending on the humidity and the thickness of the jam used, the cookies will absorb the moisture from the jam and the air and soften up over time. The softening takes at least around 8 hours depending on the above mentioned factors.
To keep these chocolate dipped shortbread hard in a humid climate, keep them in cookie jars that can seal the humidity out. To make them soft in a dry climate, place them into airtight container with some water until it softens up or just put them in the fridge without a lid. In both cases check for molds before offering them to our visit paying boss.
Ingredients
Cookie
- 2½ cup / 300g Flour
- 15 tablespoon / 200g butter (room temperature)
- 2 tablespoon honey
- unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 medium Egg
- Jam
Frosting
- 3½ oz / 100g Chocolate
- 1 tablespoon Butter
How to make Chocolate shortbread cookies
- Put all cookie ingredients in a medium size mixing bowl then work it together by hand until getting an even dough.
- Take dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface and roll it flat. Flouring underneath the dough is important as this coating will prevent it to stick down.
- Cut out the shapes with a round cookie cutter and place them on the tray.
- Put cookies into the 350°F / 180°C preheated oven for 10-15 minutes to bake.
- Take them out and let them cool down before filling them with the jam.
- Stick two together with a teaspoon of jam.
- Melt chocolate with the butter.
- Dip the cookies or spread the chocolate on top.
- Leave them cool down for a couple of hours before serving it.
Enjoy!
Cookies are not just in every shape and form but from many ingredients too! Cookies are everywhere!
- Keto Shortbread Cookies Recipe
- Crescent Cookies Recipe
- Linzer Cookies Recipe
- Sugar Free Chocolate Chips Cookies
- Jammie Dodgers Recipe
- Sugar, Dairy and Gluten Free Shortbread
- Almond Flour Cookies with Chocolate Chips
Chocolate Shortbread Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
Cookie:
- 2½ cup / 300g Flour
- 15 tablespoon / 200g butter room temperature
- 2 tablespoon honey
- unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 medium Egg
- Jam
Frosting:
- 3.5 oz / 100g Chocolate
- 1 tablespoon Butter
Instructions
- Put all cookie ingredients in a medium size mixing bowl then work it together by hand until getting an even dough.
- Take dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface and roll it flat. Flouring underneath the dough is important as this coating will prevent it to stick down.
- Cut out the shapes with a round cookie cutter and place them on the tray.
- Put cookies into the 350°F / 180°C preheated oven for 10-15 minutes to bake.
- Take them out and let them cool down before filling them with the jam.
- Stick two together with a teaspoon of jam.
- Melt chocolate with the butter.
- Dip the cookies or spread the chocolate on top.
- Leave them cool down for a couple of hours before serving it.
Notes
Pin now, Enjoy later!
Yummmm!
Yummmm indeed!
You can’t go wrong with chocolate and shortbread! ;D
Not even if you double it! ;D