Chocolate Dipped Orange Shortbread Biscuits

Chocolate dipped orange shortbread biscuits:

Makes 15–20 biscuits

Rachel’s quote: ‘These shortbread biscuits are incredibly easy to make and you can cut them in to whatever shapes you’d like.  I’ve taken the small extra step of dipping them in melted chocolate, they look lovely when set and the chocolate of course goes really well with the orange zest. Recipes with so few ingredients demand the very best quality produce and that’s why I use Kerrygold butter.’

Ingredients:

·   100g (3 ½ oz) Kerrygold butter, softened and diced, plus extra for greasing

·   150g (5oz) plain flour, plus extra for dusting

·   50g (2oz) caster sugar

·   75g (2½ oz) dark chocolate, broken in to pieces

·   The grated zest of one orange

Method:

1.       Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°f/Gas mark 4.

2.       Grease a baking sheet with a little Kerrygold butter.

3.       Sift the flour into a large bowl and, using your fingertips, rub in the Kerrygold butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and orange zest and bring the whole mixture together to form a stiff dough. (Don’t be tempted to add any water.) Alternatively, briefly mix the ingredients in a food processor until they come together.

4.       Transfer the dough to a lightly dusted worktop and roll out to about 5mm (1/4inch) thick. Cut into rounds, fingers, squares or dinosaurs, then lift carefully on to the prepared baking sheet with a palette knife, spacing the biscuits evenly apart.

5.       Bake for 6–10 minutes or until pale golden, then remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for a minute or so before transferring to a wire rack to cool down completely.

6.       Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.  When the chocolate has melted, dip the shortbread in about half way in to the chocolate, then allow any excess to drip off and place on a plate to cool and set.

Rachel’s Tip:  If you want to mix things up with your biscuits you could always try using milk chocolate or white chocolate.

Our verdict

I couldn't find my camera when we were making these, and they were all eaten by the time i found it, but i will add some pictures next time we make them(which we will be).

The biscuits are really easy to make, and really yummy. I ate one before we dipped them in chocolate and that was really yummy, but after dipping in melted milk chocolate, well there are no words to describe how yummy these were mouthwatering. The chocolate really complemented the orange in the biscuits.

Next time i think i will get some white chocolate as well as milk chocolate, and dip half the biscuit in milk chocolate and when that's set dip the other side in white chocolate. Just to make it extra chocolately (can you tell we love chocolate).

So why not give them a try.

Loren x

Rachel Allen has teamed up with Kerrygold to produce The Kerrygold Community Recip-e-book, available for free download in October. For more information on Kerrygold, the Recip-e-book and some delicious recipes visit www.facebook.com/KerrygoldUK