Double Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Biscuits

Whether you are thinking of a sweet treat for a friend, you are looking for that extra special gift idea or simply want to try your hand at a different kind cookie, this double chocolate dipped shortbread is the best idea  A few simple ingredients combine to create a superbly satisfying buttery shortbread sensation.

Simplicity of Shortbread

My daughter, Mia, called me the other day to ask about a gift idea. She was invited to spend the weekend on Lake Michigan with her best friend’s family and she wanted to take something special.  My first thought was to send  Kate’sTruffles but we did not have time to ship them so the next great idea that popped into my head was a box of buttery Double Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Biscuits.

Deciding on the perfect hostess gift is tricky, especially when you don’t know that person very well. In these situations, more often than not, I take homemade gifts.  It requires a little more effort but your host and/or friends will appreciate the effort you put into the gift so much more than a trip to the store.

It is a good idea to keep gift bags and boxes on hand to carry your handmade delights wherever they need to travel.

Unfortunately, Mia had only a plastic container usually reserved for leftover food, but her hosts were generous enough to overlook the misleading packaging.

Standard shortbread consists of 3 simple ingredients: Butter, sugar and flour. The result is a simple, flaky, buttery almost elegant biscuit. You may know I am a fan if you read my blog regularly, this is not my first time posting a shortbread recipe.

If you are new to baking or don’t have lots of time and need a sure thing, bake these Incredibly Easy  buttery shortbread-type cookies.

Once you become a true fan of  shortbread, you will want to take a little more time and make the effort worthwhile with a batch of this more traditional and really Phenomenal Scottish Shortbread.

Mia planned to bake the traditional shortbread, rather than today’s recipe for Double Chocolate Dipped which I borrowed from Great Cookies  by Carol Walter.

When we started the discussion she did not know whether her hosts even liked cookies in the first place and the chocolate dipped version takes more time so we decided on the easier version.

Although Scottish Shortbread may be more difficult or time consuming than other cookie recipes,  it is far more impressive tasting and presents as a gift better than most other cookies.

I suggested she try baking a batch a week or so before her trip to get the hang of it because in my experience it takes a couple attempts before you get any new recipe just right.  All the more important when you are giving a homemade gift; however, she did not have time before her trip for a test run.

Perfect on the First Try

As usual, I did not need to waste time worrying.  Her shortbread came out perfect.  I should have known because Mia does have lots of practice baking as well as cooking; nevertheless, I was worried because mother’s just can’t help themselves.

I was worried because there have been plenty of times I messed up and had to completely start over or worse dropped the cookie tray or, in my case, Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie as you are taking it out of the oven.

Yes, I did that!

Nothing like that happened to Mia and her shortbread, but she was late to the party because her oven is so old and inefficient the cookies took twice as long to bake.

She had no idea that ovens can vary so drastically and so it’s a darn good thing she followed the recipe exactly right and paid attention while they were in the oven because burnt shortbread is not a special gift at all.

Her really old (or maybe it’s not old, it’s just tiny) came through and the shortbread turned out great at least that is what she believes  because it was gone in less than 24 hours.

Mia has not used the oven because she is an avid air fryer.  She used one through college years and asked for one as a housewarming gift and got the Dash  in aqua blue to match her tea pot.

It really perks up her small old fashioned kitchen and she tells me she uses it almost everyday.  She uses the air fryer to reheat things, especially pizza slices, which honestly really do taste like they are fresh out of the pizza oven when you use the air fryer to reheat them.

She can cook anything she buys frozen in the air fryer and then of course, for recipes that require “frying” such as, her delicious Fried Cauliflower.  She makes that every time she visits us here at home!

But you cannot bake shortbread in an air fryer.

Wait, really, can you bake cookies in an air fryer?

Since I am about to have twice as much counter space once my remodel is done, I am thinking of asking for an air fryer for Christmas or should it be Birthday? Hmmm…

Chocolate Shortbread is Nirvana

I happen to love chocolate so I absolutely adore this Double Chocolate Shortbread recipe and the additional dip into melted chocolate adds pizzazz and a bit of sweet deliciousness to each and every bite.  This version is non-traditional and not for everybody but it makes a sensational holiday host/hostess gift.

Look at me!  I am already thinking of Holiday gifts ideas!  The holidays will arrive before you know it so best start thinking about those folks you want to celebrate before the season arrives.

For Chocolate Shortbread Biscuits you will need:

Baking chocolate pieces – Ghiradelli is great

Cocoa

Flour

Butter

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