Brought to you by the good people at Godiva Chocolate, this recipe produces a sweet shortbread with a subtle, savory bite. Served fresh out of the oven with a cup of English tea or dipped in chocolate as a decadent dessert, these cookies are sure to become a staple in your kitchen.
What You Will Need:
- A Rolling Pin
- A Cookie Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Wax Paper
- A cookie cutter
- A food processor
- 1/2 cup blanched, slivered almonds (plus 1/4 cup more for garnish*)
- 4 1/2 teaspoons of fresh thyme leaves
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 8 ounces of dark chocolate*
* These ingredients are only used to garnish the cookies and are optional.
Steps:
First, combine 1/2 cup of almonds, the lemon zest, thyme, and salt in the food processor and get pulsing! This should take twenty to thirty seconds. Doesn’t the combination of fresh lemon zest and thyme just smell delicious?!
Once you’ve ground the almonds, thyme, zest, and salt to a fine meal, place them in a large bowl with two cups of flour. Mix to combine, and then set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine the butter, granulated sugar, and confectioner’s sugar. With a standing or hand-held mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until they form a fluffy but cohesive mixture.
Once you’ve creamed the butter and sugar together, add the vanilla extract and the lemon extract and beat until combined. Then, slowly add in the dry ingredients until the dough begins to form large clumps.
Using your hands, form the dough into a round disc, wrap in wax paper, and put in the fridge for 1-2 hours to chill. If you’re in a hurry, you can put the dough in the freezer for roughly thirty minutes and achieve the same effect. Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Flour your board and rolling pin, and start rolling out those cookies!
Use the cookie cutter of your choice to cut out the shortbread. You should be able to get about forty cookies out of this recipe. Place the cut-out cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and pop them in the oven (one sheet at a time for best results!) for twenty minutes or until the cookies are lightly golden brown.
When the cookies are done, remove them from the pan with a spatula and let them cool. They are ready to eat! But…
For an extra special treat, you might want to try dipping these cookies in chocolate. Just chop up the chocolate, put it in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on low for thirty seconds at a time–stirring intermittently–until the chocolate is just melted. Then, use a spoon to cover half of each cookie in the chocolate. We garnished each cookie with a blanched, slivered almond, but how you decorate your cookies is up to you! Let your imagination run wild.
Once the chocolate has dried, sit back and enjoy the delectable combination of lemony, fresh thyme and dark chocolate.
