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
- Sift the flour into a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir in the sugar, vanilla and salt.
- 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.
- Briefly knead the dough to make it nice and smooth, and making sure the chocolate is evenly distributed.
- Between two sheets of parchment, roll out the dough to 3mm thick and then place in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes
- Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Centigrade
- Stamp out circles from the chilled dough and place, spaced apart onto a lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until starting to gain a hint of colour around the edges.
- Sprinkle with caster sugar whilst hot and then move to a wire rack to cool
