Chocolate Shortbread Hearts

I almost forgot to tell you about the delicious Chocolate Shortbread Hearts that I made right before Valentine's Day. The only adjustments I made were that I didn't have Dutch processed cocoa powder so I did a substitute for that and I never buy salted butter so I had to substitute for that, too. I did some reading and found out that you can add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda to substitute for the Dutch processed cocoa powder and add half a teaspoon of salt for each cup of butter to account for the extra salt in the salted butter. I also melted some white chocolate chips and dipped the hearts halfway into the white chocolate. The kids and adults loved these cookies!

Chocolate Shortbread Hearts

Ingredients:

2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup salted butter, softened
1-1/2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Stir with a whisk until combined. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

Add eggs and vanilla. Mix, scrape down bowl and mix again.

Add flour mixture and mix until combined.

Remove dough from the bowl and divide into 2 portions. Wrap each piece in clear film, forming a disk shape.

Refrigerate 2 or more hours.

Remove one disk from the refrigerator. (If dough is too hard, let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes).

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare 3 sheet pans with silpat or parchment paper.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured board to 1/4 inch thick, you do not want to use tons of flour and leave the beautiful dark dough whitish looking. The cookies also work if you like them rolled thinner.

Using a 3-inch heart cutter, cut as many hearts as you can from the dough, placing each on a prepared sheet pan.

Bake for 15 minutes. Cool cookies right on the tray, or after 15 minutes, remove cookies to a wire rack.

I melted a cup of white chocolate chips in the microwave and dipped the cookies halfway in the white chocolate.

Enjoy!

The Creative Cook