Salted Dark Chocolate Shortbreads

Today, I bring you dispatches from the doctor’s office. And the pharmacy. And my apartment. (Also known as basically the only places I’ve been this week, not counting work.) Our Netflix has been in overdrive recently, as I’ve been almost exclusively laid up on the couch with a string of stomach ailments.

The whole situation has been zero fun, not least because I haven’t been able to eat much other than plain rice and water crackers. (Discovery of the week: Carr’s water crackers have 3 ingredients in them. Not one is water.) But hopefully answers are forthcoming, and in the meantime, to ease my growing boredom and to make up for my prolonged absence here, I’ve baked some salted dark chocolate shortbreads!

I don’t need to tell you anything about these. Not about their crisp, crumbly texture. Or their perfect mix of salty and subtly sweet. Or the deep, delicious chocolate flavor that permeates each bite. You probably could have guessed about all of those things no?

Maybe I’ll just say that the dough takes less than 20 minutes to come together, and the longest part of the whole shebang is waiting for the dough to chill. Thankfully this can be done while doing laundry working on something important watching Greek. Don’t judge — I’m sick …

Salted Dark Chocolate Shortbreads
Adapted from Gourmet

– 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened

– 1/4 cup granulated sugar

– 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

– 1/4 teaspoon salt

– 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

– 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1) Blend the butter, sugar, vanilla and salt in a large bowl with a fork, until it is combined well. Sift the flour and cocoa into the butter mixture and blend it with a fork just until the mixture forms a soft dough. (I had to use my hands here.)

2) Press the dough into a square shape (basically, whatever shape you can get), and chill, uncovered, for 2 hours.

3) Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cut the dough into 1-inch squares and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Prick each cookie with a fork and bake until the centers are dry to the touch and the edges are slightly darker, about 15 minutes. Cool on a rack.

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