Since my family is Italian, home-made cookies when I was growing up were generally little, hard, crumbly wafers that exist solely for dipping in espresso. I, on the other hand, have made entire dinners out of chocolate chip cookie dough and prefer cookies large, soft, and undercooked. As I bake more the number of exceptions have increased and these little goodies are one of them. While the essential ingredients of shortbread make up a small list, adapting the recipe for wheat and dairy free eaters while keeping the texture of sandy, buttery biscuits was a bit difficult. This recipe is inspired from the back of a box of corn starch and the Fannie Farmer Baking Book. You could easily replace the chocolate with something else; at Christmas, I'll often melt Toblerone bars or Skor bars, or omit this step entirely. One other note: Some dairy free bakers use butter flavoring in their baking. This is also very common in professional baking. If you find the taste of these not as buttery as you would like, you might try it.
Makes aprox. 24 cookies
SHORTBREAD INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup + 2 tbs icing sugar
1/4 cup rice flour
3/4 cup wheat free all purpose flour
1/8 tsp xanthan gum
pinch of salt
3/4 cup shortening
2 tbs warm water
2 tbs. sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips
SHORTBREAD DIRECTIONS:
In a medium bowl, stir together the corn starch, icing sugar, rice flour, wheat free flour, xanthan gum, and salt. When these ingredients are combined, add the shortening and warm water. Roll the dough on a floured board with a floured rolling pin to 1/4 inch. Cut into shapes and place on an oiled sheet. Sprinkle the tops with granulated sugar. Bake at 325 degrees for fifteen minutes. Its important to cut the shapes cleanly because the crumbs will make your cookies look ragged.
For the chocolate sides, melt the chips in a double boiled and dip half of the cooled cookies so that the top and sides are covered. Let cool on a silpat so they are easy to remove.
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