CHOCOLATE SHORTBREAD WITH CACAO NIBS AND SEA SALT

(Recipe from page 87 of The Essence of Chocolate by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg - contributed by Elizabeth Falkner)

NOTES:  I've made these twice, reducing the salt mixed into the shortbread to only 4 g the second time, and dropping just a few teeny chunks of pink, black, or white sea salt on top of each cookie before baking (courtesy of salt I schlepped home from Hawaii).  IMO, you could reduce the amount further if salt is an issue for you, but the salt just furthers the chocolate flavor from the cocoa powder and cacao nibs.  Additionally, the second time I made them, I did NOT crush the cacao nibs with a rolling pin (I couldn't justify the amount of effort it took to crush the nibs, even using a marble rolling pin) - just whirled them a few seconds in a mini food processor. Honestly, I think next time I will try placing the nibs in a bag and using a mallet on them - it doesn't bother me to have the crunch of the nibs - gives them a different texture besides the melt-in-your mouth feel of shortbread.  The only downside is that you may wish to check your teeth in the mirror for bits of nibs - small price to pay for this addictive deliciousness!

1 cup all-purpose flour (4-1/2 oz)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (72 g)

1/4 cup + 2 T cacao nibs, crushed with a rolling pin (45 g)

1 tsp fine or coarse sea salt (5 g)

12 T (6 oz OR 1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar (4 oz)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

You will get better results, especially when undertaking a new recipe, if you do your mise en place - gather all your ingredients, measure them into separate bowls or cups, and prep your utensils - baking sheets, spatulas, spoons, etc.  This enables you to proceed smoothly from one step to the next, without having to stop to look for your next ingredient, only to possibly find you do not have it.

Position the racks in the lower and upper thirds of your oven, and preheat to 325 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with Silpat sheets or parchment paper.  I baked the first batch using each type, but chose the Silpat the second time I made the recipe.  Personal choice. 

Here's what your nibs look like before AND after crushing.  I thought that certainly I must resemble the (please don't kill me if I'm incorrect here) Aztec or Mayan women who use what I believe is basalt 'rolling pins' (metlapils) on the hard surface (metates) to break cacao down into smooth chocolate.  Lots of effort, and one I refused to use my family heirloom large-diameter rolling pin that I'm fairly certain my grandfather, a carpenter by trade, made for my grandmother.  I couldn't bear leaving dented impressions of nibs in the pin, and killing the smooth texture of the wood. 

Here's a fun website with info on the effort used to hand make chocolate:

 http://www.themijachronicles.com/2010/08/grinding-chocolate-on-the-metate-the-traditional-mexican-way/ 

Whisk together the flour and cocoa powder in a small bowl.  Combine the cacao nibs and sea salt in another small bowl.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed ~5 minutes, until light and fluffy, stopping periodically to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.  

Mix in the vanilla.  Add about half of the flour/cocoa powder mixture and mix on low speed.  Scrape the bowl, then add the remaining flour-cocoa mixture, incorporating on medium speed 1-2 minutes.  

Mix in the nibs and salt.  At this point, you may refrigerate the dough, well wrapped in plastic, for up to 1 week or freeze it for up to 2 months.  I chose to immediately proceed to the following step, tho next time I make this, I may wrap it for 30-minute stay in the fridge for possible easier handling, especially if it is warm in the kitchen already.

Gently form the dough into a square and place between two pieces of parchment paper, or on a lightly floured countertop, and roll to a 1/4" thickness.  Cut into 1" x 2-1/2" rectangles or other desired shape, by hand or with a cookie cutter, and place on your prepared sheet pans about 1" apart.

As you can see, the first time I used a knife (and a ruler, but I'm a bit of a nerd).  The second time I used a pizza cutter, and still made them 1" wide, but cut them a bit longer - say closer to 4" long.  They don't spread much, so 1" apart is plenty.

Bake for 15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway thru baking.  If you begin smelling cookies baking in the air, they may be done.  When gently nudged, they shouldn't feel soft, but the bottoms should seem crisp.  The 1st time, I did the 15 minutes, but reduced the time for the next batch, and liked them even more.  

Remove from the oven and transfer the cookies (gently) to a cooling rack to cool completely.

The next time I do these, I am rolling them slightly thicker, more along the 3/8" to 1/2" thick.  I prefer them just a smidgen softer.  

While the original instructions indicate you should get about 3 dozen cookies, at 1" x 2-1/2", your batch will render less than 30 should you choose to make them longer, as I had in my second batch.

So, what are you waiting for?  While it's not quite immediate gratification, they are so worth the effort.  If it's the lack of cacao nibs, I believe you could get away with finely chopped nuts, but quite honestly, these cookies would rule even without the nibs!

It's so difficult to begin to fathom just how much has taken place over the past year for my family.  If you're a loyal reader, the last post you've read would have been on my alternate blog - BartlettTastestheWorld! - in which I discuss the horrifying 2 weeks my 87-year-old father had spent by that point in the hospital after breaking his femur in THREE places.

Unfortunately, he ended up back there a third, and tragically final time, passing away on 9/22/16.  We had a lovely memorial service for him (and my mother, who'd passed away in October of 2012), and will be honoring their request to be scattered over Beartooth in the future. 

Life is finally beginning to become my own again, as quite a few things tend to fall by the wayside when your family faces struggles such as his initial brain surgery in November of 2015, then finding a lovely retirement community that nurtured the last year of his life, one where he found many new friends, helping take care of his finances, medications, doctor visits, etc., and his passing. 

On those days when I spent way more time on things for his benefit, and he'd come out of his room during the time he stayed with us and make comments about the amount of time I was on the computer (nearly always taking care of his affairs), I'm so fortunate I always reminded myself that maybe, just maybe, at times during his life when he was working 60 hours or more per week, walking across 100 acres thru hip-deep snow to get to the Turnpike so a snowplow could pick him up to transport him to work, where he worked 30 straight hours during the blizzard of 1978, maybe he'd have liked to have a few hours off, but he was a dedicated family man, providing for our family.  I'm glad I was able to spend so much of his final year making sure his life was as fulfilling and enjoyable as possible.  

As I begin to gain control of my life and do a few more things that I enjoy, like scrapbooking, Photoshopping vacation photos, and traveling, I am once again cooking and baking more often, so my plan is to post weekly, and a great recipe to being with is for the Chocolate Shortbread Cookies with Cacao Nibs and Sea Salt that I baked recently.  Look for this post this week - these cookies are seriously addictive!