Chocolate Nut Shorties

Homemade buttery shortcake biscuits, with nuts and chocolate. A winning combination.

15 minutes

160ºC

Ingredients

75g Pecan nuts (or walnuts)
250g plain flour
275g unsalted butter

- softened
85g icing sugar

- sifted
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract/1 Vanilla pod

- (halved, seeds removed)
Finish
100g dark chocolate

- chopped & melted
100g white chocolate

- chopped & melted

Instructions

01 Toast nuts for 5-7 minutes until lightly coloured. Cool and chop fairly coarse. Set as side.
Biscuits:
02 Place butter in a mixing bowl or food mixer, and beat smooth.
03 Slowly beat in the lump free icing sugar 1 tbsp at a time. Add vanilla and beat well until mixture smooth and white. Add flour and nuts and mix to form a stiff dough.
04 Divide into 20 even sized pieces, and with floured hands roll into balls. Place well apart on baking trays lined with baking paper. Gently flatten each ball with fingers to make small disc about 5.5cm across and 1 cm thick.
05 Baked heated oven for 15 minutes until pale and golden. Leave on the tin to cool.
To decorate:
06 Melt both chocolates in separate bowl. Creatively decorate each biscuit in either white or dark chocolate with alternate flavoured chocolate toppings.

Notes

You will need 2 baking sheets, lined with baking paper when baking the biscuits - essential to prevent the biscuit sticking and breaking. If the recipe is too dry to bind, add more softened butter. Try not to over handle, as this can make the biscuit loose it traditional shortbread texture. Recipe works best with Pecans but can be substituted with walnuts or hazelnuts.