Shortbread Cookies
7th June, 2009 - Posted by Emily - Comments
Last weekend, John and I made the trip out to South Carolina for his brother Jim’s wedding. We were only there for the weekend, so we didn’t really get to explore SC much, but the wedding was beautiful.
Does this ever happen to you: you’re traveling, staying in a hotel, and you get cravings for random foods? It happens to me all the time on trips. I tend to crave fruit and veggies because when you travel, you tend to eat all meals out, and most restaurants don’t make a point of serving good fruits and vegetables with meals (well, at least they don’t serve ones that are worth eating). Last summer when we visited Seattle, we were lucky that our hotel sat atop a Whole Foods Market. For breakfast each day, we just went down and were able to purchase fresh fruit and pastries for breakfast.
Anyway, on this trip, we made a stop at Atlanta Bread Company (which was really similar to Panera Bread we have here in MN). They had one shortbread cookie left on display. I really wanted it, but the service was so slow that I didn’t want to go back to the register to get the cookie and chance missing our plane. So, we stopped at Starbucks on the way to the airport, and I was lucky that they had shortbread cookies! However, this cookie did not satisfy my craving. It was pre-packaged, dry and crumbly. Not the kind of cookies I normally enjoy.
So, after arriving home, I just had to make shortbread cookies! These were especially good, moist and flaky (maybe due to the 3/4 pound of butter), and they were dipped in chocolate! Chocolate makes everything better. You might be like me, and hate making cookies that require rolling out, but these are worth it! These cookies sure satisfied my craving!! Make sure you eat them all within a few days, or they will get kind of dry. And if you are concerned about the amount of butter in these cookies, you can just eat one and give away the rest.
Shortbread Cookies
From Barefoot Contessa
3/4 lb butter (room temperature)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate (chips, or chocolate bar, finely chopped) I use Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add vanilla. Sift together the flour and salt, then add gradually to the butter mixture, mixing until the dough comes together. Shape into a disk shape, then wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. This makes the dough easier to roll out.
Roll the dough out into 1/2 inch thickness, then cut out with cookie cutter. I used a 2 1/2 inch fluted round cookie cutter. Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (I always use my Silpat) and bake for about 12 minutes until edges are just barely starting to turn golden brown. If you like soft, not crispy, cookies (like me), take them out before they start to turn golden. Cool on cookie rack completely.
Place chocolate in microwave safe bowl and microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring between each, until chocolate is just melted. Dip half the cookie in the chocolate, then let harden on the cookie rack or on parchment paper.