early morning cookies or the perfect thing for unexpected guests

me and lola felt particularly productive this morning and whipped up a batch of chocolate chip shortbread. these are really, really delicious, quick and easy. it makes them perfect if you have unexpected guests as within about 15 minutes you can be serving freshly bakes cookies and they don't even generate a lot of washing up!

basic shortbread recipe

makes about 20 small cookies

115g plain flour

115g butter

60g caster sugar + a little extra for sprinkling

75g 70% chocolate drops

preheat oven to 220c

1. rub all the ingredients, except the chocolate, together to form breadcrumbs

2. knead together to form a dough, add the chocolate and mix to distribute evenly throught the dough.

3. roll to form a sausage about 2" thick and cut into 1cm slices, or pick small clumps of dough and roll into a ball.

4. flatten the slices or balls slightly and place, nicely spaced out, on an ungreased baking tray.

5. bake for approx 7 mins (or until golden brown at the edge)

6. leave to cool on the tray.

milk chocolate chip shortbread with orange zest and cardamom

the rain was so incessent this morning that i decided that instead of bemoaning the wintery weather in the middle of july i would embrace it and spend the day in the kitchen cooking warming, hearty fayre.

it was in the middle of preparing a lamb curry that a watery sun came out, but by that point the fragrance of the cardamoms had already seduced me and i had my heart set experimenting with a milk chocolate chip shortbread with cardamom and orange zest.


shortbread was the obvious choice, as this recipe contains 8oz of butter and i am attempting to lose a bit of weight (you will probably notice over the following posts, as i record the food i love to cook and eat, how regular and always half hearted these attempts are; it really takes only the slightest craving or excuse to throw me off course).

this recipe, as i suspected it would be, was perfect for this afternoon's baking fest. it filled the entire house with a lovely smell of spice and orange, maybe not the types of smell you'd hope to find tempting in the middle of summer but truly comforting for this type of day. and it is certainly one i will file away for christmas time too.

recipe

8oz butter
4oz sugar + a bit extra for sprinkling
1oz cornflour
11oz plain flour
zest of one orange
1/2tsp crushed cardamom seeds
2-3 drops of vanilla extract
3 1/2oz milk chocolate drops
(feel free to substitute for dark chocolate)

method

1. preheat the oven to gas mark 3, 160C or 140C with a fan.
2. gently melt the butter either in a microwave or in a pan.
3. add the orange zest, vanilla extract and the crushed cardamom into the melted butter;stir to make sure they are well mixed.
4. add the cornflour, sugar and flour and mix well until they are all combined.
5. mix in the chocolate drops and make sure they are evenly distributed through the mix otherwise it is just unfair.


6. spread the mixture evenly into a swiss roll tin and sprinkle lightly with sugar.
7. bake for 40-45 minutes and check the shortbread is cooked, it should be firm and going golden at the edges.
8. cut, and then leave to cool. when cool turn out.
   

the results

these are a lovely, crumbly shortbread with a lovely sweetness from the chocolate and the orange and a delicious, subtle spicy undertone.

we enjoyed ours with a hot chocolate (made with cocoa bean's milk hot chocolate mix, of course!). i am taking them into work tomorrow to share round, so as not to eat them all myself; here's to actually hoping it is not a balmy summer's day....

the lamb curry, in case you were wondering, was mildly disappointing.