Lesley’s Pecan Shortbread with Valrhona Chunks
This shortbread is the to die for 'melt in your mouth' variety, made extra decadent with the addition of very good bittersweet chocolate. Skip the nuts if you like or try another type such as almonds, pinenuts, hazelnuts or macademia nuts. This batter freezes well. If you pre-scoop and freeze the balls, you can bake them as you need them.
Ingredients
1 lb soft sweet butter
1 cup icing sugar
3 cups flour
3/4 cup toasted chopped pecans
1/2 lb bittersweet chocolate chunks or discs
Directions
Preheat oven to 325°F
Beat the butter, sugar and flour on medium for 10 minutes until the mixture is fluffy and light, scraping down the sides as you go. It is best if you have a standing mixer otherwise you will be bored silly, deaf and suffer from tendonitis. Besides that, this is a dead easy recipe. Mix in the pecans. Scoop the batter by the heaping teaspoon (a tablespoon is a bit too big) on to a cookie sheet. Stab a chunk of chocolate into the top of each cookie.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes until barely brown. Cool and devour.
Yum! Makes about 4 dozen.