Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Chocolate Dipped Cherry Shortbread


These chocolate dipped cherry shortbread were created as part of a cookie package I sent to my friend in Japan. I wanted one of the shortbreads I sent to somehow involve chocolate, and what better way to incorporate it than in a nice thick layer on one side of the cookie. These turned out way better than I could've imagined.


I don't love dried cherries (I love fresh ones but the dried ones taste a bit weird to me) but they were really perfect in this cookie. The shortbread was "slightly chewier than classic shortbread" (as the recipe promised) - so not your crisp type of shortbread. Just a truly awesome dense slightly chewy buttery shortbread. Deliciously delicious. I will make these again for sure.

Anyone know why the chocolate developed little spots on it? You can see the spots in the second picture.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Banana Nut Shortbread
Strawberry Shortbread Cookie Bark
Earl Grey Tea Shortbread
Any Way You Want It Biscotti

Chocolate Dipped Cherry Shortbread
Adapted from The Good Cookie

Makes 12.

The original recipe was for vanilla scented shortbread cookies. I omitted the orange zest and added cherries, then dipped them in chocolate after cooling. I'm not sure how much chocolate I used - maybe 2 oz, maybe less. I also halved the recipe and used two 4.5" tart pans (this is how I've written the recipe below). If you want you can double the recipe and use two 7.5" tart pans or two 9-inch glass pie pans instead.

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 oz cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup dried cherries, chopped

2 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

1. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 300F. Have two 4.5" fluted tart pans with removable bottoms at hand.

2. Place the flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until blended. Scatter the butter cubes over the flour mixture and pulse 6 or 7 times, then process for 6 seconds, or until the crumbs are fine and powdery. Add vanilla and cherries. Process for another 5 to 7 seconds, until the crumbs are clumpier and the dough holds together easily when pressed, and the cherries are a bit more chopped.

3. Press the dough evenly and firmly into the tart pans, pressing into evenly into the bottom (not up the sides). Bake the shortbread for 40 to 45 minutes, until it is just barely colored a creamy beige; don't let it brown. Place the pans on a wire rack and cool for 15 minutes.

4. Remove the rims of the pans if you are using the tart pans, and cut each round into 6 wedges while it is still very warm. Transfer the triangles to the wire rack and cool completely.

5. When the shortbread is cool, melt the chocolate. Dip one side of each wedge in the chocolate, invert and let cool until hardened.

41 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

WOWZA!!! Your friend is quite lucky to be the recipient of those cookies!!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Shortbread, cookies.... same thing ;-)

Cate said...

Few things can make shortbread better ... but I bet chocolate is one of them.

Unknown said...

Gorgeous! I can't get over how wonderful your photos are! I'm not a huge fan of dried cherries either but glad to hear they worked in this recipe.

Alisa - Frugal Foodie said...

ooh, that shortbread looks like it belongs in a coffee shop :)

Pearl said...

i have a question: what is the difference between shortbread and cookies? i thought shortbread WERE cookies..

eatme_delicious said...

Pearl: You're right, shortbread is a type of cookie. =)

Johanna GGG said...

yum - these look so good with the chocolate - are the spots something to do with not having a little oil or butter in it - most melted choc I come across has at east that

Amy said...

You cook so many amazingly awesome things that I'm running out of different awesome amazing things to say!

Wow!!!

CookiePie said...

YUM - chocolate + cherries + shortbread?? Delicious!

Finla said...

Till now i have never made shortbread and this one is making me want to try my hand on making them.
Looks so delicious, well lucky friend in Japan to get these

Elyse said...

Man, does this sound delicious. I love a bit of chew in my shortbread--and I know that chew will help your shortbread travel well in the mail. And the idea of dried cherrys and a nice thick layer of chocolate pairing together...well, it's just heavenly! What a great treat.

grace said...

chocolate and cherries really do make a lovely pairing, and dipping something in chocolate guarantees that its tasty points increase tenfold. this is great!

Jannett said...

Great idea....lucky friend to receive such a gift.... :)

Anonymous said...

Love the second photo with the chocolate swoop coming up. Cherry is not high on our list of fave flavors, but we would nibble on this buttery, chocolate triangle.

Betsy said...

I love that swept up drip of chocolate on the side of the cookie in the second picture. Looks beautiful AND delicious!

Shanbanan said...

They look great to me. Love choc, love cherries--be hard to make a cookie bad that includes them both.

I wonder if the spots might have something to do with tempering the chocolate or if maybe it could be something to do with the amount of humidity in the air as it hardened? That's as far as my thinking goes.

Hannah said...

What an elegant little treat! They look like they would make fantastic gifts, too. :)

Jennifer said...

Ive not had anything like this!! Love it!!

Lisa Turner said...

Shortbread is my favorite cookie. Such a lovely gift for your friend. The idea to add cherries is intriguing.

Beatrice said...

Ooooo - yum.

jb said...

Chocolate dipped shortbread is always welcome around here.. looks delicious!

Emily G said...

Those look AWESOME! I can't wait to try them. The only reason I can think of that the chocolate might have developed spots is because you didn't use wax when melting it? I'm not sure, I always use some jelly wax in the chocolate when I melt it for dipping and such and I don't get those dont. Maybe not though. Thanks for the recipe! :)

Steph said...

You have a lucky, lucky friend!

Sharon said...

Mmmm, I really need to try this!

Maria said...

Chocolate dipped did it for me. What a great sweet treat!

Keith said...

Looks like the chocolate bloomed a bit. (The fats came to the surface.) That can happen if you melt the chocolate at a high temperature and then don't re-temper it. It can also happen if you store chocolate in the fridge, though that is usually from moisture drawing sugar to the surface.

Hannah said...

Those look great! Definitely making them soon! Cherries and chocolate are two of my favorite things!:)

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

What a delicious dessert to send to your friend.

joanna said...

wow these look so decadent. this combo is so rich and classy. i love chocolate and strawberries too. during my unhealthy days, i would go to dairy queen and get the chocolate dipped strawberry blizzard. dear god, was it good?!??!

Ricki said...

Looks absolutely fantastic! I want one. . . waaa!

Chocolate can develop spots if it's been stored at too cool a temperature. . . it's the cocoa butter separating out. But I don't even see the spots!

Ash said...

wow! these looks too good!

test it comm said...

Chocolate and cherry shortbread sounds amazing!

Anonymous said...

I just came across your site a while ago - yum! I already have a list on my desk of recipes I have to try.

Someone already mentioned it, and it's a common problem we have at the chocolates shop where I work - it looks like your chocolate is blooming, which just means something went wrong with the tempering. We have trouble making any of our candies on especially rainy or hot days because this happens - rest assured, it still tastes the same and is just as good, just not quite as appealing to customers when you're selling chocolates at $20 per pound. I doubt anyone will even notice on such beautiful shortbread cookies though! I'm tempted to make some to bring into work to dip in dark chocolate...mmm!

dipped strawberries said...

YUM - chocolate + cherries + delicious

all these are fabulous

Unknown said...

THANK YOU for this wonderful recipe! I made these, and my family devoured them in no time. I ended up having to make a second batch on the same day.

I also dislike cherries, but the dried cherries seem to work perfectly.

My shortbread seemed to crumble quite a bit? I couldn't get the short bread to divide into neat wedges. It just started breaking or crumbling into bits and pieces. Do you have a suggestion on how to rectify this problem? Add more cornstarch? I tried to cut it while it was still very warm, and had no luck?!

Carmen said...

I baked these - and they were delicious. Thanks for the recipe. My family devoured them.

Do you, however, have any suggestions on how to prevent the shortbread from crumbling? I was unable to cut them into neat wedges (even though I cut them while they were still very warm). Do you think I should add more cornstarch? Thanks again for such a delicious recipe. It was very simple to follow.

eatme_delicious said...

Shez28 & Carmen: Glad you guys liked them (I have a feeling this might be the same person under 2 different accounts)? Anyway. =) I'm not sure why your shortbread was crumbling - maybe there was too much flour? It's really easy to add too much flour to recipes if you don't use a scale. I don't think I used a scale for this one though (so can't remember how much I added) but that's the only thing I can think of. Sorry that wasn't very helpful! I'm not sure if it could also have been something that happened when you add in the butter and process until crumbs are fine and powdery?

Unknown said...

HAHAHA, yes, I am the same person! I tried posting it the first time, and didn't see it show up. Anyway, I will try your suggestion of less flour - I just measured by cups, not by scale (my boyfriend is in love with these cookies). I am LOVING your blog. Going to bake your Chocolate mousse/chocolate ganache cake recipe today for a friends birthday. Can't wait to try it!!

eatme_delicious said...

Shez28: Yaey glad your boyfriend loves them. And glad you love my blog. =) Hope you like the chocolate mousse/ganache cake! It was really yummy.

Anonymous said...

last week our class held a similar talk on this topic and you illustrate something we haven't covered yet, appreciate that.

- Kris