This year I participated in something really fun that I hope will become an annual tradition for me!
If you haven’t heard of the swap, it’s basically a big party where food bloggers send each other cookies. You send a dozen cookies to three bloggers and you get a dozen from three bloggers! Best idea ever. My matches sent me some DELICIOUS cookies and I whipped up something pretty good for mine, too!
My mom gave me her professional opinion that shortbread would be a good idea for cookies that need to last long and travel in the mail. I LOVE shortbread so I decided to take her advice, but I wanted to do something different with the cookies than just the plain version that you can get anywhere.
Whenever I need to add something to a dessert, my mind goes straight to CHOCOLATE! I found a recipe for a marbled shortbread cookie and that’s how the magic happened.
- 1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 c. butter, at room temp
- 1/2 c. brown sugar
- 1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
- 1/2 c. white sugar
- Melt the chocolate chips over a double boiler. Set aside to cool.
- While the chocolate is cooling, start the dough by mixing the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed.
- Add the flour and continue to mix together just until the ingredients are well combined and the mixture forms a smooth dough.
- Place half the dough in a smaller bowl and set aside.
- Mix the cooled chocolate into the remaining half with the mixer until the dough becomes brown and uniform in color.
- On a piece of plastic wrap, place chunks of each dough (the plain you set aside and the chocolate one) alternately in a rectangular shape. Once half of each dough is used up, use your hands to press the chunks together into a log shape about 8″ long. Cover tightly with the plastic wrap.
- Repeat the process with the remainder of the doughs to make a second log. Place both dough logs in the refrigerator until they harden (about 2 hours).
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Use a sharp knife to cut 1/4″ slices from the dough logs. Place each slice at least 1″ apart on cookie sheets.
- Bake for 10 minutes, or just until the edges of the cookies start to turn golden brown.
- Let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes.
- While the cookies cool, place the 1/2 c. white sugar in a shallow dish.
- Dunk the top of each warm cookie into the sugar dish before setting them aside on a cooling rack.
I love how the chocolate accents the buttery flavor of the classic shortbread. Chocolate shortbread needs to be made more often! It’s addictive.
This was like a warm-up for me to prepare for holiday cookie season! These shortbread gems are long gone now so looks like I’ll have to bake something else…darn.
-Lauren
2 Responses
Brooke (Crackers on the Couch)
These were delicious! Thank you!
Harvey Morris
These look so yummy and crunchy. Love your photography.
I made Soft-Baked Gingersnap Molasses Cookies, 3 Ways for my Cookie Swap recipe. First timer, but I can’t wait to do it again next year. Happy baking!