Shortbread cookies make for a fantastic treat that tastes fantastic with a cup of tea, or a whole ‘afternoon tea’. There is something very civilized about this particular snack, and the best part is that it isn’t overly unhealthy and won’t be too sickly sweet.
Shortbread cookies are also very simple to make and great fun to make with children. If you’re looking for a fun activity to e joy with your kids, that will have a tasty reward at the end, then this is an excellent choice!
To make shortbread biscuits, simply mix flour, butter, and sugar in a mixing bowl until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Then squeeze together to create a dough, and use a rolling pin to roll it out flat on a floured surface. If you want that traditional ‘shortbread look’, then you can also use a fork to make some imprints.
Chill the dough for 20 minutes, then bake for around 20 minutes until golden brown. It’s that simple!
All that is left, is to add your topping. This is perhaps the most enjoyable part for kids (apart from the EATING) and it’s also a great way to vary your creation in lots of ways. Here are fourteen different options to try!
1 Melted Chocolate
The first and simplest option for your shortbread is just to melt some chocolate on top. There are several ways you can do this, but the most common and popular is to dip the shortbread into the melted chocolate to allow it to coat it evenly. This looks particularly good if you dip just one end, so that either just the tip, or half of the shortbread is covered.
Otherwise, you can make a chocolate drizzle! Pile your shortbread up in a tower, then just drizzle the chocolate over the top and let it run down!
This is also a very easy option, with the main challenge being simply top melt the chocolate without it going hard. The solution is to take some chocolate pieces and to scatter them into a heatproof bowl. Meanwhile, boil some water in a pan, and then sit the bowl so that it is suspended just above the water. The idea here is that the steam is going to heat up the bowl and therefore slowly melt the chocolate. The most important thing here is to make sure that you don’t try to heat too fast, which is when you can end up accidentally cooking the chocolate.
You can use this technique with any kind of chocolate too, be that dark chocolate or even white chocolate!