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Recipe: Shortbread Cookies, Dipped in Chocolate

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The new flour miller and purveyor, Grist & Toll, has come up with the perfect Valentine's recipe for those who like to keep it kind of healthy. (And those who like to keep it delicious, generally.) This shortbread cookie recipe uses two of their whole wheat pastry flours -- if you can't find their product, another brand will work in this recipe, too. Enjoy!

shortbreadcookies
Shortbread Cookies

Shortbread Cookies from Grist & Toll
Makes about 24

1 cup Sonora Whole Grain Flour, (4.5 oz)
1 cup Hard Red Whole Grain Flour, (4.5 oz), such as Triple IV
1/2 cup cornstarch, (2.5 oz)
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup superfine sugar, (2.75 oz)
2 sticks unsalted butter, (8 oz), at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla, or seeds of one fresh vanilla bean
extra sugar, for sprinkling, optional
melted chocolate, for dipping, optional
fleur de sel, for sprinkling, optional

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk together both flours and cornstarch.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla or vanilla bean seeds. You only need to mix long enough that the ingredients are incorporated and the mixture starts to look a little fluffy.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed just until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated. Be careful not to over mix.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out desired shapes and place on prepared baking sheets.

Gather up dough scraps, gently press together (do not knead), and roll out again to cut out more cookies. A 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter should yield about 24 cookies. If desired, lightly sprinkle tops of cookies with additional sugar before baking.

Place baking sheets in oven and bake shortbread until nicely set and edges are golden brown, approximately 12-18 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on baking sheets just for a couple of minutes. The shortbread is delicate and this will help you transfer them to cooling racks without breaking. Allow to cool on racks then put in an airtight container for storage.

*We like to dip the corners of our shortbread cookies in chocolate and sprinkle with a little fleur de sel.

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