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cimoreneI found this photo online a week or so ago and instantly knew I had to try the cookies in the picture. They were probably made with orange marmelade, but my mind instantly went to apricot jam and I became convinced that it would be divine in combination with dark chocolate and buttery shortbread. It took me a while to get around to actually making them, but I did it a couple of days ago, when the instant verdict was INSTAFAVORITE! And these cookies join Toll House Cookies, Green Tea Shortbreads, No-Bake Cookies, and Peanut Butter Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies in the short list of... really awesome best cookies. Or something. (Look, the list doesn't have an official name.)
Don't be fooled by the combination of jam and chocolate: these aren't much like Jaffa cakes. The ratios are different, and the shortbread has a very different texture, too.
My standby shortbread recipe is this
, but you can obviously use any; there are slight variants.
Take about a tablespoon of dough at a time and roll into a ball.
Flatten the ball slightly on a parchment-lined baking tray and make a depression in the center with one thumb, holding the edges with the fingers of the other hand.
Spoon jam into the depressions, then bake 10-15 minutes or until edges are just beginning to turn golden.
Allow to cool.
Place a pot with a couple of cm of water in the bottom on the stove over high heat. Set a wide metal bowl on top of it and place some (or all but it will take longer to melt...) of the chocolate in the bottom. (Or, you know, use a double boiler, if you're lucky enough to own one.)
It should melt in just a few minutes.
Now dip each cookie in the chocolate by hand, covering approximately half of the top. (I wasn't too fussy about covering the bottom, and it makes it easier to eat them without getting chocolate everywhere.)
Allow to cool completely. It will take a while - a few hours, I think.
One final note: the single recipe seems entirely inadequate now, and in future I will be doubling it. I had a bit of chocolate left over, but not really enough to do much of anything with; probably 300g chocolate would be adequate for a double recipe.
Don't be fooled by the combination of jam and chocolate: these aren't much like Jaffa cakes. The ratios are different, and the shortbread has a very different texture, too.
Ingredients for Chocolate-Dipped Apricot Thumbprint Shortbread Cookies:
1 recipe shortbread dough (225g butter's worth)
apricot jam
200 g dark or baking chocolate
My standby shortbread recipe is this
Scottish shortbread
1. Preheat oven to 175° C.
2. Cream 225g butter at room temperature with 130g confectioner's sugar (I substituted granulated sugar because I wanted them crumbly); then slowly knead in 300-350g flour by hand, a bit at a time. Stop when dough reaches desired texture.
3. ½ inch-thick cutouts should bake at least 10 minutes. (I usually flatten the whole thing into a ½-in disk and bake it all together, then score it in finger-shapes with a sharp knife when it comes out of the oven. Once it has cooled completely, you can break it apart carefully along the scored lines. But obviously, that's not what you do when you make thumbprints.)
, but you can obviously use any; there are slight variants.
Take about a tablespoon of dough at a time and roll into a ball.
Flatten the ball slightly on a parchment-lined baking tray and make a depression in the center with one thumb, holding the edges with the fingers of the other hand.
Spoon jam into the depressions, then bake 10-15 minutes or until edges are just beginning to turn golden.
Allow to cool.
Place a pot with a couple of cm of water in the bottom on the stove over high heat. Set a wide metal bowl on top of it and place some (or all but it will take longer to melt...) of the chocolate in the bottom. (Or, you know, use a double boiler, if you're lucky enough to own one.)
It should melt in just a few minutes.
Now dip each cookie in the chocolate by hand, covering approximately half of the top. (I wasn't too fussy about covering the bottom, and it makes it easier to eat them without getting chocolate everywhere.)
Allow to cool completely. It will take a while - a few hours, I think.
One final note: the single recipe seems entirely inadequate now, and in future I will be doubling it. I had a bit of chocolate left over, but not really enough to do much of anything with; probably 300g chocolate would be adequate for a double recipe.
