Shortbread Cookies for the Chocolate Lover!!

These are wonderfully old fashioned, but with a twist ~ drizzled with chocolate!!!!  I make some with and some without chocolate for the purist. 

Shortbread Cookies

¾ lb. unsalted butter, room temperature          3 ½ cups flour

1 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling                ¼ tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract                                    ¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  With an electric mixer fitted with a paddle, mix together the butter and 1 cup of the sugar until they are just combined.  Add the vanilla.  In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter and sugar mixture.  Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together.  Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk.  Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes. 

Roll the dough ½” thick and cut with a 3 X 1” finger shaped cutter.  Place the cookies on an ungreased or parchment lined cookie sheet and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the edges just begin to brown.  Allow to cool to room temperature.  Allow to cool to room temperature.

While still on the parchment paper, put ½ of the chocolate chips in a glass bowl and microwave for about 30 seconds on high.  Stir with a wooden spoon.  Continue to heat and stir the chocolate chips in 15-30 second spurts until chocolate is just melted.  Add the remaining chocolate and allow it to sit at room temperature, stirring often, until it’s completely smooth.  Stir vigorously until the chocolate is smooth and slightly cooled.  Stirring makes it glossier.  Drizzle ½ of each cookie with just enough chocolate to coat it.  Don’t do the whole cookie – you need “finger room”.