Chocolate Chip Shortbread Hearts

I’m actually not a fan of shortbread, my sweet tooth runs a little more sugary. But so many people I know adore it, I find myself making it quite often. Instead of plain ol’ shortbread, or even chocolate covered shortbread, I like to mix in things. These have mini chocolate chips in them and I cut them into little hearts cause they looked so cute. Shortbread is the best because if you don’t have milk or eggs, you can still get a nice baked good going.

ingredients:
2 sticks of butter, softened
3/4 cup sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups sifted flour
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

I like to mise en place everything before I start so I sift the sugar and set it aside, then I sift the flour, cornstarch and salt and set that aside in a separate bowl.

In a mixer cream the butter – then add the sugar, the vanilla, then the flour mixture. Couldn’t be simpler, really.

Once everything is combined, stir in the mini chocolate chips. Your batter should look like above, pull away from the bowl on it’s own.

Now here’s where things differ. You’ll find some recipes that say to bake it in a pan, then cut it. Others say just cut it out and call it a day. Here’s how I do it. Once the dough is done, pat it out on a floured surface, a little less than 1/2 an inch thick.

I then cut out the shapes and place them on a silpat lined baking sheet. They look lovely right? but because of all the butter in these, they are going to spread….

Bake in the oven for 15-17 minutes, until just browned on the edges. They cookies will still look pale. Once they come out, I let them rest for a minute, then I cut them AGAIN. All those leftover pieces? Well, you eat them yourself of course.

If you don’t mind blobby shapes, then don’t do the second cut, but if you are giving them away, I always suggest it. You get a nice crisp edge. And a professional looking cookie.