This cookie recipe will hit all the flavor, and texture points for you, and your son. Enjoy.Nutty Shortbread Cookies
These delightful cookies are inspired by Pecan Sandies. They have a wonderful crunch, and combine all of the cookie flavor of buttery shortbread cookies with the scrumptious flavor of hazelnuts, and cashews, all covered with a dark chocolate gaze. You will love these cookies.
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups of All Purpose Flour
• 1/4 tsp of Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp of Salt
• 1/2 cup of Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature
• 1/3 cup of Granulated Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
• ½ cup of Finely Chopped Hazelnut
• ½ cup Finely Chopped Cashews (or Macadamia Nuts)
• Powdered Sugar
Chocolate Glaze
For the glaze, use the best chocolate you can find. Lint makes a great chocolate, as does Valrona, Dove, and Green and Blacks Russel Stpver's French silk Chocolate. If you want great chocolate, and are planning to use it frequently, opt for coverture chocolate.
Coverture chocolate is high in cocoa butter, and when tempered, produces a beautiful shine, and crsp snap. It also tastes great. Here are a coupe of links for coverture chocolate -
https://premiumchocolateco.com.au/product/lindt-swiss-premium-couverture-ecuador-70-piccoli-2-5kg/
https://www.amazon.com/lindt-chocolate-piccoli-ecuador-couverture/dp/b00d8yjs80?tag=isthisnice-20
https://www.cocoaoutlet.com/index.php/chocolate/dark-couvertures.html?limit=30&mode=list
Do a bit of research and you can find prices from about $13 for a small bag, to over $200 for substantial amounts of coverture chocolate. Unless you are planning to start a chocolate candy operation, and are going into chocolate sales, I would recommend getting a small bag, as chocolate can go stale.
You will need to temper your chocolate. Thais is a process of raising, lowering, and again raising the temperature of the chocolate while constantly stirring. It causes the sugars to align , producing a wonderful sheen, and crisp snap. And so for your glaze;
Ingredients:
10 oz. High quality 50% to 70% cacao chocolate. Place 2 cups of water in the bottom of a double boiler, or into a sauce pan. Bring the water to a boil, then turn down heat to low. Place the top of the double boiler in place, or place a stainless steel bowl over the sauce pot. Breakup the chocolate and place into the double boiler top, taking care to not let any water get into the chocolate. Use a candy thermometer for accuracy. Melt the chocolate and bring to a temperature of :
Dark – Heat to 120° F then cool to 82° F bring the temperature back up to 90° F
Milk – Heat to 115° F then cool to 80° F bring the temperature back up to 86° F
White – Heat to 110° F then cool to 78° F bring the temperature back up to 82° F.
Dip your cookies into the tempered chocolate. Keep the chocolate at the final temperature while working.
If using white chocolate, food coloring paste can be stirred into the white chocolate.
For the Cookies:
Preheat oven to 350’ F (177’ C.)
Using a mixer with paddle attachment, or wooden spoon, cream together the butter and granulated sugar. Mix in the egg until fully incorporated. Add the salt, vanilla, and baking soda. Mix until all is well combined.
Add the flour and chopped nuts. Use the low speed on your mixer for about thirty seconds. to avoid splashing flour all over the place. Increase the mixer speed to medium and mix another thirty seconds, or until all of the ingredients form a homogeneous cookie dough.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. With a 1 inch scoop, or a tbs. Portion out the cookie dough to make 24 little dough balls. Space them evenly onto the cookie sheets as yo make them. Wet one hand and lightly flatten the dough balls to make a thick disk. Place the cookie sheets into the hot oven and bake until golden brown, about 14 minutes., give or take a little. Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper, with cookies, onto cooling racks, or onto a flat surface. Let cool for 10 minutes. Dip the top side of the cookies into war, chocolate glaze. Let the glaze cool. Enjoy.
Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the NOrth
