Cherry Shortbread Cookies with White Chocolate and Pink Peppercorns
Shortbread is having a moment courtesy of Ted Lasso, but at the risk of sounding boring, it’s always been a favorite of mine. I love plain shortbread with a cup of tea, a cozy blanket, and giant socks. Call me old (-fashioned? just old?) but it’s such a comforting experience. But in the interest of trying new things, I decided to riff on a favorite traditional shortbread recipe and throw in some very untraditional flavors. My apologies to the entire nation of Scotland, but these cookies are studded with dried cherries, dipped in white chocolate, and sprinkled with pink peppercorns for a spicy, sweet, salty, very un-Scottish but very festive treat.
If you don’t want to bother tempering the chocolate, you can absolutely use white chocolate melting wafers like these and just melt them and dip without tempering. No need to complicate your holidays if tempering chocolate isn’t your idea of fun.
The recipe is in volume and weight, but I highly recommend using weight, not only because it’s the most precise, but also to minimize your cleanup. Nobody needs more dishes around the holidays!
Recipe
Ingredients
1 pound (454g) unsalted butter
2 tsp salt
1 cup (150g) powdered sugar
¼ cup (35g) cornstarch
4 cups (500g) all-purpose flour
2 cups (240g) chopped tart dried cherries
¾ to 1 cup (165g) chopped white chocolate
2 tbsp crushed pink peppercorns
Directions
In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer, beat the butter, salt, and powdered sugar until light and fluffy.
Gradually add the cornstarch and flour until almost fully incorporated and the dough is just starting to come together.
Add the cherries and mix until just combined and evenly distributed.
Divide the dough in half and form each into a cylinder approximately 2 inches in diameter. Wrap each cylinder in plastic wrap or parchment paper and refrigerate until full chilled, at least 2 hours. You can store the dough in the fridge for up to two days.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 275F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Slice each cylinder of dough into cookies approximately ¼ inch thick and place cookies 1 inch apart on the baking sheets.
Bake until the edges of the cookies are just barely beginning to brown, approximately 25 minutes.
Allow the cookies to cool for about 10 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.
While the cookies are cooling, temper your white chocolate. Tempering is the process of melting, cooling, and recrystallizing the chocolate’s structure so that it sets well with a nice snap and shine. It’s not necessary to temper it perfectly like you would in a chocolate shop— you can get a decent enough temper in the microwave without a chocolate thermometer.
Melt about ¾ (125g) of the chocolate in the microwave in 10 second intervals until it’s completely melted but not too hot (it should run off a spoon but not be completely liquidy). Add the remaining chocolate and allow to sit for about 1 minute until the chocolate is softened but not melted. Stir the chocolate to fully incorporate and cool the chocolate. If your added chocolate melts right away, your chocolate was probably too hot. Just add another tablespoon or so of chopped chocolate and repeat the process.
Dip each cookie into the chocolate about halfway and place on another parchment lined baking sheet.
Sprinkle the cookies with the crushed pink peppercorns before the chocolate sets. If need be, you can put the cookies in the fridge for a few minutes to help the chocolate set.
The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
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