Chocolate-dipped Shortbread

A couple of months ago I was given a gift certificate to the King Arthur Flour online store and it took me a long time to decide what I was going to order as I would be happy to just own every single item they sell! I finally settled on this beautiful Celtic knots shortbread pan.

I love shortbread and making/eating it has now become even more exciting!

Ingredients:

- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature

- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

- 2 tsp vanilla extract

- 1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)

- 2 cups flour

- about 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 300°F.

Spray vegetable oil (I use canola oil) on two 9-inch pie pans. The first time I made this I used butter but it didn’t work too well for me. It ended up sticking to the pan after baking.  On the other hand, with the canola oil the shortbread slid right out of the pan.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla and almond extracts. Beat in the flour a few tablespoons at a time. I used my stand mixer but it will be fine with a hand-held on too!

Put the dough on a floured surface and divide it in half.

Press each half of the dough into your prepared pie pans and smooth the  surface. A mini rolling pin will work wonders but if you don’t have one, you can use your fingers or even the bottom of a cup. If it is too sticky, cover it with wax or parchment paper while smoothing it.

Prick the dough with a fork to allow the steam to come out while baking. You can do it in a pretty pattern as it will still show after baking or use it for cutting the slices when the shortbread come out of the oven.

Bake the dough for about 35 minutes, or until the edges are brown and the middle is light golden in color.

Inverse on a cutting board and immediately cut into wedges.

Wait until the shortbread is at room temperature before eating it. I know, easier said than done! If you’d like, you can also dip the wedges into chocolate. I love it that way!

To melt the chocolate, use the double-boiling technique: place semi-sweet chocolate chips  into a heat-proof dish (I used a smaller mixing bowl) and set it over simmering water.

Stir the chocolate until it is completely melted.

Pour the chocolate into a cup and immediately dip each wedge in it, then set the wedges on wax paper to cool.

Enjoy!

This recipe is adapted from King Arthur Flour Shortbread recipe.