48. Mocha Shortbread Hearts

February 08, 2020 by Sophie Faulkner in Recipe

Valentine’s Day is coming up, so I thought I’d post some themed recipes. It’s almost like I thought ahead and planned! They say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, so I thought I’d test that theory with these mocha shortbread hearts as he’s a big shortbread fan. I know my boyfriend loves me anyway, but I don’t think they hurt!

These are REALLY easy to make, so if you’re stuck for something to do for your valentine, why not give these a go this week? Or look out for my cupcake recipe going up early next week in time for V day.

Makes 15-20 cookies (depending on cookie cutter size)

Ingredients

180g butter, room temperature
70g light brown sugar
1 tsp instant coffee granules
180g flour
30g cocoa powder
100g chocolate chips

Method

Mix the butter and sugar together until smooth and combined.
Mix the coffee granules together with a tbsp hot water until dissolved.
Mix the flour, cocoa powder and coffee into the butter and sugar, using your hands to bring it all together into one cohesive dough.
Wrap your dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray.
Roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface until about 1cm thick and start cutting out hearts (or whatever shape cookie cutters you have). Transfer the cut outs to the baking tray.
Squeeze the leftover scraps into one ball and reroll out and cut again. Repeat until all the dough is used.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until the cookies are just firm and allow to cool.

39. Shortbread (Lavender optional)

July 03, 2019 by Sophie Faulkner in Recipe

I think it goes without saying that I love shortbread. You can find a link to my chocolate chip shortbread here. The recipe is all but the same, except this time, I decided to use LAVENDER SUGAR. *audience oooohhh*. I know! That’s what I thought too when I saw it. I have had good experiences and bad experiences when it comes to lavender in food, but as Mum and I were staying extremely close to the Norfolk Lavender Farm on our holiday, it seemed rude not to give it a go.

My first experience of lavender in food was a lavender muffin in a cafe in Poland. I was utterly confused by the concept, but thought I might as well try it. It was unforgettably good. I wanted more, but they’d sold out by the time I had finished my first! Every time I went back to that cafe they had sold out. They were so good I dreamt about them.

My second experience with lavender in food was a lavender macaron that tasted like soap and old people. I promptly dropped the idea of lavender in baked goods all together.

Until now anyway.

Now shortbread, shortbread has never done me wrong, so if there was something to try out my lavender sugar on it was shortbread. That simple 1:2:3 ratio of sugar, butter and flour was strong enough to withhold any flavour I through at it, and these turned out great! Would recommend.

Makes around 15 biscuits

Ingredients

50g (1.75oz) sugar (lavender optional)
100g (3.5oz) butter (cold and diced)
150g (5.25oz) plain flour
a pinch of salt

Method

In a bowl, rub together the flour sugar and butter with your hands until all rubbed in and you have no lumps of butter remaining. You may have lumps of dough, but you can tell whether they are lumps of butter or dough by the colour. Once there are no more lumps of butter, stop.
Squeeze the dough together into a ball and roll out on a lightly sugared or floured surface ( I like to sugar mine) to about 6mm thick.
Use a cookie cutter to cut out your biscuits and transfer to a lined baking tray. Stab with a fork to create a nice shortbread pattern.
Cool in the fridge for 20 minutes so that the dough will keep its form.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden.
Enjoy!

10. Chocolate Chip Shortbread

August 31, 2018 by Sophie Faulkner in Recipe

Double digit recipes. Woo!!!!

For recipe 10, I thought I'd just keep it simple. Vanilla shortbread with chocolate chips. Easy as pi. Shortbread is one of those classic biscuits that everyone loves. It's sweet and crumbly and just delicious. When I was growing up, my grandma would always buy a box of Scottish shortbread if I was coming round, even if I was just popping over for lunch. Unfortunately this stopped after I lived with her for a while. It was probably a bit too much to ask for there to be a constant supply of shortbread, but there we go.

Even now shortbread always reminds me of my grandma, and that's part of the reason I enjoy making it. I don't know if we ever actually made shortbread together in and amongst the baking we did when I was a kid, but even so, shortbread will always be linked with my grandma.

Makes roughly 24 biscuits

Ingredients

4oz (115g) butter
2oz (55g) caster sugar
6oz (170g) plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
3.5oz (100g) chocolate chips

Method

Preheat your oven to 180C.
Cream together the butter and sugar until well combined.
Add in the flour, then chocolate chips and vanilla extract. This should form a dough, but may be a bit short and crumbly. If this happens and it is TOO crumbly to deal with, add a splash of milk to help combine the ingredients.
Roll out the dough to about 1cm thick and use a 2" diameter cutter to stamp out your biscuits.
Transfer your rounds to a lined baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes until just golden.