Hazelnut Shortbread dipped in Dark Chocolate

Welcome to a recipe about shortbread cookies that are buttery and full of toasted hazelnuts, then dipped in dark chocolate.  But there’s a problem; something went wrong when I made these.

I’m really not sure what what wrong but here are the symptoms: they melted & spread out as they baked, they don’t really look like shortbread, and they weren’t as dense as I would have expected.  These were more on the side of tender, light, flaky shortbread.  And as you probably know, that’s basically the opposite of shortbread! Argh!

I did some research and consultation of other recipes and blogs before deciding on my recipe.  The bizarre hybrid approach I ended up going with may have been the source of my problems.

Ina Garten’s Shortbread

Pretty much everything Ina makes is delicious, so that was one of the appealing things of this shortbread recipe.  I also liked how she rolled out her dough to 1/2″ thick, then used a cookie cutter to cut out the individual shortbreads.  Most other recipes had you bake the shortbread in a 9 inch tart pan with removable bottom, then cut it up after it had baked.  I don’t own such a tart pan, and this also sounded needlessly fussy to me, so I modeled myself after Ina and her cookie cutter ways.  This may have been the start of my downfall…

Epicurious Italian Hazelnut Shortbread Recipe

This is the actual combination of ingredients I used in my shortbread, less the espresso.  I found this recipe because I wanted to make hazelnut shortbread, and I’ve had good luck with epicurious recipes in the past.  I compared this recipe to Ina’s and it had less sugar which sounded good to me. I also really liked their directions, which made use of a food processor rather than a mixer.  I am too cheap to own a mixer so the fact that this recipe was completely made with a food processor was what finally sold me.  Oh, and as mentioned, I didn’t want to mess with their “9 inch tart pan” instructions, which is where the hybridization began.

Smitten Kitchen’s Twice Baked Shortbread

I looove Smitten Kitchen, so of course I had to look up what she had to say on the topic of shortbread.  I found this recipe on her site and she seemed to like it well enough.  Her recipe does call for baking the shortbreads first in a tart type pan, then cutting them, then transferring them to a baking sheet and baking them again – thus the Twice Baked moniker.   I started to feel a little nervous about my decision to forgo the tart pan at this point, but I was already mentally committed!  I should have listened to Deb, but alas, I made melty, light and flaky “shortbreads”.

They did taste good, though, so at least there’s that.  My husband pretended like he didn’t really like them, but when I woke up the next day they were all gone.  Somebody’s a binge eater!

So without further ado, here’s the recipe.  As though you’re dying to try it – right??

Light & Flaky Shortbread Cookies

…that DO taste good!

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup (packed) brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup hazelnuts, toasted, husked, coarsely chopped

Blend flour, brown sugar, cornstarch and salt in processor. Add butter and vanilla. Using on/off turns, process until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add nuts; blend until finely chopped. Transfer dough to floured work surface. Knead just until dough comes together.  Roll to 1/2″ thick, then cut into rectangle shaped shortbread cookies.
Transfer to baking sheet, bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.