The recipe I am sharing with you today comes from an old Waitrose Cooking Pamphlet from 2009. I was still working at the Manor when I picked this up at the shops. I always had it in my mind to bake these and I can't believe it has taken me ten years to do so!
Crisp and buttery these delicious shortbread fingers get their lovely peppermint flavour from the use of crushed strong mint candies.
You put the candies into a food processor, or spice grinder and grind them into a powder. You won't be able to grind them totally into a powder, but if they are mostly powdered with a few tiny bits, that will work fine.
The short bread dough itself is made totally in the food processor. You simply tip the flour and cold butter cut into bits into the bowl of your food processor and blitz.
You want the mixture to resemble fine dry bread crumbs. Once you have that then its time to tip the ground peppermints and a small quantity of sugar into the food processor and blitz again.
Blitz until the mixture comes together into a sort of thick paste. No worries if you don't have a food processor. You can do this with an electric whisk. It will just take longer.
The dough then gets pressed into the bottom of a 9X5 inch loaf tin that you have buttered and lined with baking paper. Make sure you use enough baking paper that you can just use the paper to lift the shortbread out of the pan with after baking.
Over here in the UK, you can get loaf tin paper liners, much like cupcake liners, so I used one of them. Easy peasy.
They take about half an hour to bake in a slow oven. Don't be tempted to rush them. They will be done when they are set, and golden brown. They shouldn't look greasy. Lift them out while almost immediately and then carefully cut them into fingers (crosswise) while they are still warm.
If you wait until the shortbread is cold, it will be impossible to cut them without them breaking and crumbling. If you have waited too long, just rewarm them briefly in the oven, just so that they are warm and slice-able.
They smell all lovely and pepperminty when they are baking. Very nice and Christmassy!!
Once they have cooled you can get on with the business of glazing them. More peppermint flavour comes from the chocolate glaze. You will need a bar of good quality dark mint flavoured chocolate. I used Lindt. Break this up into bits and melt it and then spoon and spread it over the top of each finger.
You will also be melting some white chocolate to drizzle decoratively over top of the dark. They sure do look pretty when they are done! Christmas and shortbread . . . well . . . you can't have one without the other! It just ain't human!
Mint Chocolate Shortbread Fingers
Yield: About 10
Crushed peppermints and melted minted dark chocolate give these buttery shortbread fingers a fresh taste that everyone will enjoy. These can be the "after-dinner" shortbreads!
ingredients:
- 44g tube of Trebor extra strong mints (1.5 ounces of something like Altoids mints)
- 125g plain flour (1 cup less 2 TBS) (all purpose)
- 100g unsalted butter, cold and cut into bits (7 TBS)
- 25g caster sugar (2 TBS)
To glaze:
- 100g bar Lindt Dart Mint Intense Chocolate chopped (3 1/2 ounces)
- 50g of good white chocolate, chopped )1.5 ounces)
instructions:
How to cook Mint Chocolate Shortbread Fingers
- Preheat the oven to 165*C/325*C/gas mark 3. Butter a 9 inch by 5 inch loaf tin and line with baking paper, leaving an overhand to lift it out with.
- Crush the peppermints in the bowl of a food processor until it becomes very small pieces, mostly powdered. Remove and set aside.
- Add the flour and the butter to the food processor. Blitz until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Tip in the crushed peppermints and the sugar. Blitz until it comes together into a firm paste. Tip out and press evenly into the bottom of the loaf tin.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until set and golden brown. Remove from the oven and lift out onto a cutting board using the paper overhang.
- Using a sharp knife, carefully cut crosswise into 10 fingers. Allow to cool completely before proceeding.
- Melt both chocolates by your preferred method. (I use the microwave on high at 30 second intervals. It took my microwave about 45 seconds to melt the dark chocolate and 30 to melt the white.) Spoon and spread the dark chocolate over each shortbread finger, allowing some to drip down the sides. Drizzle the white chocolate decoratively over top. Leave in a cool place to set and then store in an airtight container.
These are crisp and buttery with a lovely peppermint flavour. They go down a real treat with a hot cuppa or better yet, a couple of scoops of peppermint ice cream. Yum!!
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