S'sK Shortbread Cookies with Drizzled Chocolate

*A Sebastian’s Kitchen Original

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Shortbread Cookies with Drizzled Chocolate

Ingredients:
Cookie dough:
2 cups butter softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar

4 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups all-purpose flour

Topping:

5-10 oz Ghirardelli 60% cacao baking chips (dark chocolate)

Step 1: Cookie

1.    Add butter to a large bowl and beat it with a mixer until white and creamy about 2 minutes.

2.    Add sugar to butter and beat until fluffy. It should look thick like buttercream frosting.
3.    Add egg yolks and vanilla extract and continue to mix with electric mixer until batter is very thick.

4.    Add flour a little at a time and mix with mixer until mixer struggles. Continue incorporating batter by stirring and mashing with a fork until batter is doughy.

5.    Wrap dough in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for about an hour or until dough is firm.
6.    Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
7.    Remove dough from the refrigerator.
8.    Add cookie dough to a rolling surface like a counter or a cutting board.
9.    Roll cookie dough flat and as thin as you like.
10.  Use cookie cutter to shape cookies.
    a.    I like using a heart cookie cutter - even after Valentine's Day.
    b.    Gently lift shaped cookie dough onto parchment paper lined baking sheet.
11.   Add the rest of the shaped cookie dough to baking sheet.    
12.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
13.    Bake for 8-12 minutes until slightly golden brown. Time varies based on how thick you rolled out your cookie dough, the shape, and overall thickness of the cookie. Check the bottom of the cookies if you are unsure.
13.    When cookies are done baking, remove from oven and let sit until cool.
    a.    Let cookies sit until completely cooled to avoid them falling apart.
    b.    I slide the parchment paper full of cookies off of the hot baking sheet and let the cookies cool on the counter (on a dish towel if the counter is heat sensitive). Don’t try to pick up individual cookies as they are fragile and can break apart when warm. Leave the cookies on the parchment paper for decorating.

Step 2: Decorate

1.    Melt Ghirardelli chocolate according to package instructions.
    a.    I microwave mine in 20-30 second intervals stirring between each microwave session until melted.

2.    Add melted chocolate to a piping bag or piping bottle, or drizzle chocolate on cookies with a fork or spoon.

3.    Let decorated cookies sit out for about an hour until the chocolate sets.
4.    Store most of the cookies in the refrigerator in an air-tight container. If you are going to be eating them all soon, you can leave them all in an air-tight container at room temperature. I usually store most of my cookies in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and then get a few cookies out for the day and let those sit at room temperature in an air-tight container.