54grams/ ½ cup + 2 teaspoons confectioner’s/icing sugarsifted
2teaspoonspeppermint extract
28grams/ 2 tablespoons milk
1-3dropsgreen food coloring or ¼ teaspoon matcha powder(optional)
Instructions
Chocolate Shortbread
Preheat the oven to 160ºC/320F and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
Toss the butter and sugar into a bowl and whip on medium speed until light and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.
Add the cornflour, cocoa powder and flour and whip on low until well combined and no dry portions remain in the bowl.
Place the dough between 2 equal portions of parchment paper and roll out the dough to ½ inch thickness.
Pull away the top piece of the paper and lightly flour the top of the dough to smooth it out.
Press a round cookie cutter into the edge of your dough and either press firmly into the center with your lightly floured thumb or a lightly floured honey drizzle.
Lightly slide a thin offset spatula underneath your cookie and lift up, lightly pressing the top of your edges to loosen away from the cookie cutter.
Place onto the prepared tray with 1 inch between each cookie.
Repeat with the remaining dough.
Bake in the oven until lightly matte in appearance, approximately 10 minutes.
Remove and place on a cooling tray to cool completely.
Peppermint Filling
Place the confectioner’s sugar, peppermint extract and milk in a bowl and combine until smooth.
Spoon into the centers of your cookies and set aside for the icing to set completely.
Grab one or two and enjoy alongside your favorite hot beverage.
Dig in!
Notes
Cocoa powder: High quality plain cocoa powder is used here to really give that chocolate flavor intensity.
Peppermint extract: A nice strong peppermint extract was used here, though you could add in a tiny amount of green natural food coloring, to give it a more minty color.
Diameter of the cookie cutter: The cookie cutter used here was 4 centimeters or 1.6 inches, making for a small-medium sized cookie.
Honey drizzle: So this isn’t necessary, but if you’re a stickler for having a consistent ‘thumbprint’ a honey drizzle lightly coated in flour will give you that shape. Alternatively, you’ll want to ensure your nails are short if using a thumb to leave a nice indent.
Thumbprint shape: The thumbprint shape might rise during baking so simply press after baking to maintain the shape.