Or, instead, this post should be titled ‘I Love Dorie Greenspan’.
The more recipes I try from her book Baking: From My Home to Yours, the more I feel like I don’t need any other baking book. I love how each recipe is written so beautifully with personal notes from experience and ideas for variation. There hasn’t been a single recipe that hasn’t worked for me yet. Be it the Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes, or the soft and chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (you must click through, just for the pictures of the giant chocolate chips!), or the Apple Crumb Cake which I adapted from her Blueberry Crumb Cake recipe.
My latest venture from her book is the Chocolate Chip Shortbread. While I skipped the espresso in the recipe, given my aversion to coffee, you should definitely go ahead and add 1 tablespoon of espresso dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water and mix it in along with the vanilla. Also, while Ms. Greenspan uses unsalted butter, I would really recommend using salted butter for this recipe so you get the more evenly distributed taste instead of simply sprinkling it on top of the cookies, as this NY Times article on Chocolate Chip cookie suggests.
And something totally cool about the recipe is that you roll it in a Ziploc bag – gives you the most perfectly even edges so there is no re-rolling the scraps! (I used cling film for one batch because I was out of Ziploc bags.)
With one batch, I put the cookies back into the oven for another 3 minutes after they had cooled. Made them even more crisp and literally lived up to the name of a biscuit (twice baked).
The verdict? Supremely buttery. The shortbread cookies got over sooner than I wanted them to. I’ve made them twice already. I’m going to make them with roasted hazelnuts the next time.
Chocolate Chip Shortbread
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours
Yield: 32 cookies
2 sticks / 8 oz. /225g salted butter, at room temperature
2/3 / 130g cup caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups / all-purpose flour
4 oz. / 112g bittersweet chocolate (finely chopped, or 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)
- Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is very smooth. Beat in the vanilla (and espresso, if you are using), then reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it disappears into the dough. Don’t work the dough much once the flour is incorporated. Fold in the chopped chocolate with a rubber or silicone spatula.
- Using the spatula, transfer the soft, sticky dough to a gallon-size zipper-lock plastic bag. Put the bag on a flat surface, leaving the top open, and roll the dough into a rectangle that’s 1/4 inch thick. As you roll, turn the bag occasionally and lift the plastic from the dough so it doesn’t cause creases. When you get the right size and thickness, seal the bag, pressing out as much air as possible, and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or for up to 2 days.
- Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 F/160C. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
- Put the plastic bag on a cutting board and slit it open. Turn the firm dough out onto the board (discard the bag) and, using a ruler as a guide and a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1 – 1.5 inch squares. Transfer the squares to the baking sheets and carefully prick each one twice with a fork, gently pushing the tines through the cookies until they hit the sheet.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The shortbreads will be very pale–they shouldn’t take on much color. Transfer the cookies to a rack.
- If you’d like, dust the cookies with confectioners’ sugar while they are still hot. Cool the cookies to room temperature before serving.
P.S. To double the fun, try this delicious chocolate chip cake!
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– I know I sound quite juvenile, but I’m really excited!
