Indulge yourself.
I'm feeling a bit indulgent these days. Daughter Number Two leaves for college in a few weeks, and I want her to have fond memories of home. Chocolate, I've discovered, is ideal for creating fond memories. (Probably, it has more to do with baking together, and less to do with taste, but either way, it works.)
So I made some chocolate shortbread, which normally calls for yucky butter. As faithful readers know, I have an aversion to all dairy products, and can taste a smidgen of butter in a cookie the way a sniffer dog identifies plastic explosive. So of course I used non-hydrogenated margarine instead of butter, and wonderful dark chocolate from Green & Black's.
It was incredibly easy, and in a very short time I had an indulgent treat. One slice was just enough for an afternoon tea. Although I think these Dark Chocolate Shortbreads, with their flakes of 72% dark chocolate, go better with a nice red wine.
Daughter had hers with some chocolate syrup. Fond memories, indeed.
Dark Chocolate Shortbread
1 ounce dark chocolate (Green & Black's is good)
2/3 cup margarine
4 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ cup flour
1 ½ tablespoon cocoa powder (again, Green & Black's)
Chopped the dark chocolate into tiny bits. Set aside.
Blend margarine and sugar until combined. Add flour and cocoa powder, mix until the mixture comes together in a ball—at first it will be crumbly. Add chopped dark chocolate and mix until combined.
Flatten on a greased cookie sheet into a 10-inch round circle, about ½ inch thick*. Pinch the edges together decoratively. Punch holes in a decorative pattern with a fork. With a sharp knife, mark into 12 wedges. (Note: I forgot to do this until they were half finished baking. Didn't seem to make much difference, nor did the fact I only cut them in 8 wedges instead of 12. I never was much good at geometry.)
Bake at 325/160C for 35 minutes.
Let cool and then slice and eat.
*I recommend rolling it out with a clean bottle of red wine, which should then be drunk immediately.
