Lucy's Friendly Foods

There’s something so wonderfully tempting about shortbread – a not too sweet biscuit with a ‘buttery’ crumbly texture topped with a shower of sugar. They’re not only elegant but also extremely versatile. They work as a stand alone cookie, as an addition to a fine pudding or to sandwich a delicious filling; now that’s a multitasking cookie if ever I’ve come across one.

These shortbreads have the addition of rich dark chocolate chips which I feel compliments the ‘buttery’ crumbly dough. You may think you’d really miss the butter in shortbread, as so often it’s the selling feature with a ‘all butter’ tagline, but by using one of the firmer plant-butters you get a similar fat-rich ‘buttery’ mouth feel. Shortbread also keeps really well so fill up the biscuit tin and it’ll keep you going all week!

 

‘Buttery’ Chocolate Chip Shortbread

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, can be soya-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan)

 makes about 16

150g plain flour

50g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla paste

Pinch of salt

100g dairy-free butter, fridge cold and cubed

50g chocolate chips

20g caster sugar, for sprinkling

 

  1. Sift the flour into a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir in the sugar, vanilla and salt.
  2. Rub in the butter with your fingertips, or the mixer. As there is a large proportion of butter to flour you will form a dough pretty quickly after getting to the breadcrumb stage. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  3. Briefly knead the dough to make it nice and smooth, and making sure the chocolate is evenly distributed.
  4. Between two sheets of parchment, roll out the dough to 3mm thick and then place in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes
  5. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Centigrade
  6. Stamp out circles from the chilled dough and place, spaced apart onto a lined baking sheet.
  7. Bake for 15-20 minutes until starting to gain a hint of colour around the edges.
  8. Sprinkle with caster sugar whilst hot and then move to a wire rack to cool

 

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