Classic shortbread gets a holiday twist with with a drizzle of white and dark chocolate and a flurry of crushed candy cane bits for a festive treat Santa is sure to love!
Yield: 12 cookies
Cook Time: 45 minutesminutes
Total Time: 2 hourshours
Ingredients
¾cup/ 170gbutter, at cool room temperature (I recommend a good quality European-style butter)
½cup/ 50gpowdered sugar, sifted
½teaspoonfine sea salt, reduce to ¼ teaspoon if using salted butter
½teaspoonpeppermint extract, optional
1½cups/ 188gall-purpose flour
1 ¾oz/ 50gwhite chocolate, finely chopped (you can also use candy coating and/or almond bark if you don't want to deal with tempering)
Lightly butter a 9-inch round tart pan or springform pan with a removable bottom. Line bottom with parchment paper (this will make the cookies easier to slide off later).
In a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and powdered sugar 2 to 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add salt and peppermint extract, if using.
With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add flour, mixing until flour is incorporated. The dough will be fairly crumbly, but should stick together when pinched between your fingers.
Dump crumbly dough into prepared pan, and press into an even thickness. I find it helpful to place a round of parchment on top of the dough, then use a flat-bottomed glass to press and smooth it into a flat, even layer without sticking. (You'll re-use this piece of parchment to help score the cookies as well).
Fold the parchment round in half, then place it on top of the dough. Use a knife or a pastry scraper to score a line in the dough (don't cut all the way through, you're just scoring it at this point).
Fold the half circle of parchment into thirds, then use that as a template to score the dough into 6ths. Finally, Score each wedge in half once more, making 12 pieces in total.
Refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes to allow the dough to set.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Bake chilled shortbread for 45 to 50 minutes, or until top and edges are light golden brown. Remove from oven and set on a wire rack to cool 1 minute, then carefully lift the cookie out, removing the sides of the tart pan (be careful as the pan is still hot). Cut wedges of shortbread following the score lines you made before baking. Cutting the shortbread while it is still hot will allow you to get clean cuts without it crumbling too much.
Let the cut shortbread (still arranged in a round) cool completely on the wire rack, at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, gently melt the white chocolate. I recommend trying to temper the chocolate using the seed method, which you can achieve by warming about 3/4 of the chocolate over very low heat (a double boiler would be best here, or an electric chocolate melting pot like I have). When it is fully melted, remove from heat and add remaining chocolate, stirring gently until it's melted and cooled but still smooth.
Transfer white chocolate to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip, or a plastic bag (which you'll snip off a tiny corner and use to drizzle on top of the cookies).
Repeat with the dark chocolate, melting about 3/4 of it gently over low heat, then adding the remaining chocolate to bring the temperature down and encourage proper crystal structure. Transfer to a second piping bag or plastic bag.
Carefully transfer shortbread wedges to a clean piece of parchment paper (or some other surface to catch the overflow drizzle). Use the piping bag in a back and forth motion to pipe lines of dark chocolate across the cookies. Repeat with white chocolate. Immediately sprinkle with crushed candy cane. (I found piping about 4 cookies at a time gave me time to add the candy cane before the chocolate sets. If you used almond bark/candy coating it may set up more quickly, and you'll want to be sure to add the candy cane on top before it does so. A second set of hands would be helpful here!)
Cookies will keep at room temperature in an airtight container (lined with parchment paper between layers as needed), for up to a week.
Notes
Tip: to keep the white chocolate warm while you melt the dark, I placed the piping bag inside a small glass, which I placed inside a loaf pan filled with hot water. This keeps just enough warmth around the piping bag to keep the chocolate liquid, without overheating it or exposing it to water (which can cause the chocolate to seize).