Another variation on the basic shortbread biscuit. This one has a high proportion of ground almonds to keep the shortbreads moist in the middle yet crunchy round the edge and a large helping of chopped-up chilli chocolate.
Notes
- Makes about 20 mid-sized biccies
Equipment
- Large baking (or two small) tray
- Spatula for lifting
- Bowls
- Cutter
- Rolling pin
- Cooling rack
Ingredients
- Ground almonds – 30g
- Plain flour – 145g (plus a little extra for dusting surfaces and rolling pin)
- Caster sugar, preferably unrefined – 65g (and a little extra for sprinkling on top)
- Unsalted butter, softened – 110g
- Vanilla extract – 1/2 teaspoon
- Chocolate – about 60 g of chilli chocolate – I’ve used Maya Gold by Green and Blacks, chopped into chunks (alternatively use 2/3 of a packet of chocolate chips)
Method
- Line the baking tray
- Weigh out and rub together the flour, sugar and butter
- Roughly chop up the chocolate – you need pieces about the size of a pea
- Add the rest of the ingredients, including the chocolate. You should not need extra milk or water for binding as the ground almonds help to make the dough soft enough
- Flatten out to a disc shape and chill in the freezer for 5 minutes or the fridge for 15
- Put your oven on to 180C fan / 190C conventional
- Lightly dust your surface and rolling pin with a little flour
- Roll out the dough to about 6-7mm thick (about 2/3rd of an inch)
- Press out carefully with the cutters and use a spatula to move the shortbreads to the baking tray – they are quite squashy and I tend to dent them if I try to move by hand
- Keep re-rolling the dough and cutting out shortbreads until all the dough is used
- Sprinkle a little caster sugar on to the top of each biscuit
- Pop in the oven in the middle for 12 minutes – keep an eye on them as shortbreads should stay pale. They’ll be done when the edge of one or two of the biscuits starts to turn a light brown
- Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes on the baking tray before moving to a wire rack until they are thoroughly cold
Sounds delicious!
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