It's been all go here lately. The house sale went through a few days earlier than expected and the last few weeks have been a blur of boxes and bubblewrap. However I did manage to take a few photos of the last goodies I baked in my old house ~ Chocolate Shortbread Pinwheels.
These are a buttery melty delight, and taste as good as they look.
Shortbread Chocolate Shortbread
225g plain flour 200g plain flour
140g butter 25g cocoa
55g sugar 55g sugar
few drops vanilla essence few drops vanilla essence
few drops water few drops water
approx. 75g chocolate vermicelli
Preheat oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4. Grease a baking sheet.
First make the plain shortbread by sifting the flour into a bowl and rubbing the butter in until the texture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar and vanilla essence then squeeze the dough together with a few drops of water to help make it more pliable. Set aside.
Make the chocolate shortbread in the same way, sifting the cocoa along with the flour.
Next roll out the two batches of dough into roughly rectangular slabs about half a centimetre thick, making one slightly narrower than the other, then place the narrower slab on top of the other. Don't worry if it cracks and crumbles a little, just push it back together and it will be fine. Carefully fold over the long edge of the bottom piece and start to roll up like a swiss roll. Again, don't worry too much if it cracks here and there. just gently roll it back and forth and the cracks should close up again.
Now comes the messy bit ~ the vermicelli. This took a LOT more than I had guestimated, which is why the more eagle-eyed among you will have noticed two different shades of chocolate ~ I had nowhere near enough and had to run out for more! Sprinkle the vermicelli along the length of the roll and keep turning until all sides are covered.
Cut slices approx. 1cm wide and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes until the vanilla bit is only just beginning to turn a light golden colour. Cool on a wire tray. This recipe makes about 35 cookies, depending on how thinly you slice them.
You could make different colour / flavour combinations too ~ Make two plain batches but in one of the batches use Strawberry flavouring and a few drops of red food colouring instead of the vanilla essence and water, and roll in multi-coloured sprinkles. Pretty! If you make some yourself, why not share a picture on my Cheery Chicken Facebook page, I'd love to see how they turn out!
