Chocolate Shortbread (Joy of Cooking)

I'm in a new group called Tasting Table Cookbook Club and they pick one cookbook a month, usually a well-known cookbook/chef, and we make as few or as many recipes from the book as we want throughout the month.

This month's book is the ultimate classic Joy of Cooking!

As well known as it is, I've never owned a copy of the Joy of Cooking, so I went down to our trusty library and picked it up.

It's an amazing anthology of not only basics, but hundreds of other simple-to-complicated recipes. What a treasure!

I chose to make this Chocolate Shortbread because, well, I love both chocolate and shortbread.

A lot of shortbread can turn out dry and crumbly, but this one, even after completely cooled, isn't dry at all. It's buttery, sweet, and has that slightly crumbly shortbread texture.

I used Ghirardelli Intense Dark Cherry Tango chocolate (it calls for semisweet or bittersweet) and it added an extra level of slightly-cherry flavor to it.

This Chocolate Shortbread is a quick throw together recipe, but be particularly gentle with the dough so you don't end up with a dry, sandy texture. This is outstanding with a cup of hot tea or coffee, too!

Hope you try it.

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Chocolate Shortbread (Joy of Cooking)

Yield: 20 bars

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Outstanding example of good shortbread with an additional plus of being chocolate flavored.

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Ingredients

• 1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• ½ C sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
• 2 C all-purpose flour

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 300°.
2. Beat the butter, sugar and salt together until fluffy.  Melt the chocolate, cool slightly, then stir into the butter mixture until blended.  Gently stir in the flour until mixed.
3. Press the dough evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 13x9" baking pan.  Bake until the top is firm when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 38-40 minutes. 
4. Remove the pan to a rack and let cool until barely warm.  Cut into bars and transfer to a rack to cool. 
5. Store in an airtight container.

Notes

I used salted butter and halved the salt.

I also used Ghirardelli Intense Dark Cherry tango chocolate to add a little cherry taste.

Make sure and cool the chocolate quite a bit before adding to the butter mixture so it won't melt the butter!

I turned the pan halfway through baking.  Next time I'll use parchment paper so I can lift out the bars and cut evenly. 

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 20 Serving Size: 1 bar
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 97Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 2mgSodium: 35mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 1gSugar: 5gProtein: 2g

Nutrition Values are Approximate