Chocolate Dipped Shortbread

I recently picked up a container of Harry & David's shortbread cookie mix and finally decided to make them.  They turned out great, but I decided to make them even better by dipping them in chocolate.

For the cookies:  Follow the directions on Harry & David's shortbread cookie mix.  I rolled small balls of dough into nice spheres to get round cookies.   The cookies came out a lot lighter than my preferred brand of Walkers.

After the cookies had cooled I dipped them in melted semi sweet chocolate.

Ingredients: Half a bag of semi sweet chocolate chips and one tablespoon of shortening.

In a double boiler slowly melt the chips and shortening.  The shortening helps with tempering the chocolate and makes the chocolate have a nice glossy appearance.  I only dipped 1/2 the cookies in chocolate so that they'd be easier to handle.  After dipping place them on wax paper and refrigerate until chocolate sets up.

Next time I dip cookies in chocolate I think I'm going to add some sprinkled toasted nuts on top.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients: 2 sticks of butter at room temperature, 1.5 cups of brown sugar, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoon of vanilla extra, good dash of ground cinnamon,  1 tsp. each of salt & baking soda, 1.5 cups of all purpose flour, 3.5 cups of quick oats, 1 bag of chocolate chips.

Cream the butter & sugar together.  Then add the eggs and vanilla.  Beat to thoroughly combine.  Then start adding in the dry ingredients.  I add them about a cup at a time until everything is well incorporated.

You can drop them by the spoonful onto a parchment lined baking sheet or you can mold them into little balls.  I tend to make my dough in the morning and the put it into fridge for later use.  

Peanut Butter Cookies with a Little Chocolate

Ingredients: 1 cup flour + up to an extra 1/4 cup, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 cup each of shortening, white sugar, brown sugar & creamy peanut butter, dash of vanilla and 1 egg.

Mix all ingredients together except the extra 1/4 cup of flour.  If mix looks to wet start adding it in a spoonful at a time until its a nice consistency.  Put dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350 and line some baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out dough balls in the palm of your hand using about 1 tablespoon or so of dough.  Press into the dough balls some choco chips or a Hershey's kiss.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Cakey Choco Cherry Cookies

Ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 5-6 tablespoons Dutch Cocoa, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 1 stick of butter, 1 egg, 1/3 cup of milk + about 2 tablespoons, 1/2 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup of dried cherries

In the bowl of your food processor using the blade attachment pulse together all the dry ingredients.   Then add the chilled butter cut into cubes.  Next dump in the choco chips, vanilla extract, egg and milk.  Pulse several times to combine.  It will be very thick.  Dump into a bowl and add in the cherries.  Slowly add in milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the cookie dough comes together.  You shouldn't need more than about 2 maybe 3 tablespoons of milk.

Spoon out decent size portions on a parchment lines cookies sheet.  Bake for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

 These cookies will not spread much on the pan and will be incredible cakey.  I think they go excellent with a super cold glass of milk.