While we were in Hawaii, I really wanted to bake something for a family gathering. With a very limited kitchen... no stand mixer, no hand mixer, no measuring cups/scale (!!), and no rolling pin, I went in search of something I could make that would be delicious and be pleasing to the eye!
Behold... the SHORTBREAD COOKIE! What a great way to get back to improv baking! The key to shortbread is similar to sugar cookies. Make sure the dough stays cold, cold, cold after you roll it out and all through the shaping process. Here's what you'll need:
- Mixing bowls, wooden spoon, plastic wrap, parchment paper, a glass cup or wine bottle (as your rolling pin), large chef's knife, baking sheets.
Orange Rosemary Shortbread Cookies
Makes 2 Dozen cookies depending on your cutters
- 1 1/2 cups of unsalted butter, room temp
- 3/4 cup of granulated sugar
- 1/8 cup of clover honey
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- zest from 2 large navel oranges, separated
- 2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary, chopped
- 2 cups dark chocolate, melted
1. In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together with your wooden spoon or using your stand mixer. Add in vanilla extract and mix until incorporated.
2. Scrape down the sides of your bowl and add flour, salt and orange zest. Mix until well incorporated.
3. Remove dough from the bowl and shape into two round, flat discs. Wrap with plastic wrap and place into the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. After dough is chilled, preheat oven to 350F.
5. Roll out the chilled dough till it's about 1/2 inch thick. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and put it into the freezer for 10 minutes to re-chill. Repeat rolling out the dough with the second dough disc.
6. Remove rolled dough from the freezer and cut rectangles with your kitchen knife (or use cutters at this time.
7. Line more baking sheets with parchment paper and space out cut cookies at least 1 inch apart. Lightly sprinkle each cookie with chopped rosemary.
8. Bake up to 2 sheets in preheated oven for 20-25minutes until the edges start to turn golden. When you touch the edges of the cookie they should feel stiff but the middles of the cookies will be a little soft. Rotate sheets at least once.
9. Remove cookies from the oven and let it cool for 1 minute on the sheet. If the cookies browned too much in the oven, then remove immediately to a cooling rack.
10. Let cookies cool completely before dipping in chocolate.
11. In a small bowl, microwave 1 cup of chocolate chunks for 30 seconds then 10 seconds at a time until you can stir the melted chocolate. Don't overheat. Add in the rest of the chocolate and continue to stir until that chocolate has melted into the bowl. Stir vigorously until the chocolate is smooth and slightly cooled.
12. Zest your second orange and set aside in a small bowl.
12. Dip each cooled cookie into the chocolate, sprinkle chocolate section with orange zest and then set on parchment paper for the chocolate to set.
17. Store dried cookies in an air-tight container for a week.