Chocolate Orange Shortbread

I've been neglecting my blogging duties recently, partly because I wanted a new camera and secondly, well christmas happened! Happy 2016 everyone! Finally got my hands on said camera and have been playing around with it ever since. Now I'm a complete novice when it comes to photography so if I start of with a wobble its all part of the process.

Now I'm certainly not a novice at baking and this twist on the classic shortbread recipe blew my mind. Im a massive chocolate orange fan and wanted to re-create that flavour onto some baked goodness and chose shortbread as my guinea pig. The recipie is so quick and can be altered if you happen to be gluten free. 

To make these chunks of goodness you will need:


125g/4oz butter
55g/2oz caster sugar, plus extra to finish
180g/6oz plain flour (You can use gluten free flour it works just as well)
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
Zest of one orange and about 4 tbsp of the juice



Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees (Gas mark 5)

Cream the butter and the sugar together until combined then gradually add the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Add the vanilla extract, cocoa powder and the zest and juice of the orange

Combine and form the mixture into a ball (sometimes it's best to get you're hands dirty here).

Flour a clean surface and transfer the mixture, roll out until about 1cm thick. You can cut out the shortbreads into any shape with any type of cutter. 

place on a baking tray and transfer to the oven, bake for 15-20 mins. Transfer to a wire rack and grate some more zest over the top of you're shortbreads for that extra kick of flavour.

Let me know how yours turn out guys!

x