Well, tomorrow is the Superbowl, and we’ve been invited over to our friends Renee and Ryan’s place to watch the big game. GO PATS! Renee is making pulled pork (YUM!) and I offered to make dessert. I wanted something really tasty, but also somewhat novel, and not too rich, since I’m sure there will be a bunch of other heavy snack foods. I finally settled on this recipe for Chocolate Chip Shortbread from King Arthur Flour. With only 6 ingredients and only 3/4 cup of white sugar, it’s not quite as unhealthy as some baked goods, and it is absolutely delicious. One batch makes up to 32 pieces, depending on how you cut them.
Chocolate Chip Shortbread
Ingredients and Materials:
- 2 9in round cake pans
- Blender or food processor
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 1/3 cups flour
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Directions:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and lightly grease the cake pans. I used Crisco for this, but go ahead and use whatever you’ve got.
Step 2: Cream together the butter, salt, sugar and vanilla.
Step 3: Combine 1 cup of the flour and the chocolate chips in blender or food processor. Chop until the chocolate is in very small pieces.
Step 4: Mix the flour/chocolatemixture and the remaining 1 1/3 cups flour into the butter mixture. Mix very well. The dough will be very thick and crumbly.
Step 5: Divide the dough in half (I just eyeballed it)
Step 6: Press the dough into the prepared pans with your fingers. You can also use the flat bottom of a measuring cup to smooth it out if you wish.
Step 7: Prick the dough with a fork in an attractive pattern. For me, this step is completely optional. I did it the first time I made it, and I didn’t the second time. Honestly, I found it difficult and time-consuming, and didn’t find that it made a big difference in the finished appearance, so do whatever you wish!
Step 7: Bake for 35 – 40 minutes, until it’s golden brown around the edges. Remove from the oven, let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a clean surface.
Step 8: Using a pizza cutter, cut the shortbread into as many pieces as desired while still warm. If you wait until it’s cool, it will break rather than cut. I find that a small bit of this is very satisfying, so I cut mine into 16 pieces each, but the recipe recommends 12 pieces. Again, I think it’s up to you. Move cut pieces to a wire rack to cool completely.
I have to say, this recipe is REALLY good. Simple yet satisfying, and I love that the pieces are shaped like little pieces of pie! It’s similar to a chocolate chip cookie, but crisper and much more interesting to look at. My King Arthur book has many variations on shortbread, and if they’re all this easy and delicious, you can be sure I’ll be trying them all out!
