Brown Sugar Shortbread

Quick! What do you think of when you hear shortbread? Yummy, tasty, light, high in fat. Shortbread is actually a quite simple cookie to make yet the flavor can be as complex as any other cookie. These are delectable shortbread cookies. I have personally never been a fan of the shortbread. My earliest memories of shortbread came from eating te packaged Walker shortbread. While it was tasty because of the buttery flavor, it was not fulfilling as a packaged chocolate chip cookie. If I had good shortbread, I always felt guilty eating such a rich and fattening cookie. As I was flipping through my Mrs. Field Cookbook, I felt so inclined to make shortbread. Perhaps the pictures made them simply irresistible! I was particularly intrigued by this recipe that uses brown sugar instead of white sugar and was dipped in chocolate and pecans. I allowed myself to make these cookies because I was making them for a party and knew that it would be a crowd pleaser. And it gave me an excuse to eat one but only one of course!



Brown Sugar Shortbread
compliments of Mrs. Field's Best Ever Cookie Book

Ingredients: Shortbread
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar (packed)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour

Ingredients: Topping
1 tablespoon salted butter
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (~1 cup)
4 ounces finely chopped pecans (~1 cup)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 F.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed. Scrape down sides of bowl. Then add vanilla and flour, and blend thoroughly on low speed.
3. Shape level tablespoons of dough into 1-inch balls, then form into logs 2 inches long and 1 inch wide. Place on ungreased cookie sheets, 2 inches apart.
4. Bake for 17-19 minutes, or until cookies spread, and turn a light golden brown. Transfer to a cool, flat surface.
5. Make toPping: Melt butter and chocolate chips in a double boiler over hot, not boiling water, or in a microwave oven on high power. Stir chocolate every 30 seconds until melted.
6. Dip top of each cooled shortbread cookie into melted chocolate, then into chopped pecans. Place cookies on wax paper and refrigerate to set.