Almond Brown Sugar Shortbread

This Bread is a Classic Cookie

Shortbread is a traditional holiday cookie on Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner tables, sent out in gift baskets, and found on dessert trays. The rich, buttery flavor of these tender cookies is the perfect end to a holiday meal. Almond brown sugar shortbread is a crisp cookie that is great for dunking into your favorite "Warming up after playing in the cold" drink.

The word "short" in the name shortbread comes from an old definition that refers to the texture. Since "short" described the crumbly texture of these cookies, they ended up being called shortbread. The bread part of the name is said to come from early Scottish bakers who, looking to avoid taxes on biscuits, called their short cookies short bread.

Almond Brown Sugar Shortbread

Ingredients

• 1/2 pounds powdered sugar, sifted
• 5 oz brown sugar
• 1 1/4 pound butter (one pound and one stick of butter)
• 3 eggs whole
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 pound bread flour sifted
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 pounds almonds, sliced

Instructions

1. Cream butter, powdered sugar, and brown sugar lightly.
2. Add the eggs one at a time.
3. Add the vanilla, then add in sifted bread flour.
4. Mix until the flour is just incorporated.
5. Turn off the mixer and add the almonds.
6. Mix the almonds in with your hands.
7. Shape batter into long rectangles about 1/2 an inch thick
8. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before using.
9. Slice into rectangle shaped cookies and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until edges are light brown.

If these rich and buttery cookies are not decadent enough for you, we can take it one step closer to madness. For this, you will need about 2 cups of your favorite chocolate. I like to use a Valrhona bittersweet because it gives a nice balance to the sweetness of the cookies.

Using a Bain Marie, melt the chocolate until it is very smooth and silky. Then, simply dip the almond brown sugar shortbread into the chocolate until they are half coated with chocolate and place them on a sheet of parchment paper to cool. If you like you can make a quick ganache and just pipe it onto the cookies.