Orange Choc-Chip Shortbread

It started with clementines and memories of Christmas past.

We’re heading to the UK for Christmas this year, you see, and that, of course, had Grant remembering when he was a boy in Scotland and England and a treat in his Christmas stocking was a clementine or an orange.

I said that the only orange I’d want in my Christmas stocking was a Terry’s chocolate orange (how does the saying go? It’s not Terry’s, it’s mine!) which then led to a discussion of the treats that we’d want to have in the house for Christmas Day.  

He said shortbread, I said chocolate orange and Sarah said that it was too early to be talking about Christmas, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s never too early for that! So in the name of family compromise I bring you the Orange Chocolate Chip Shortbread.

This, in my opinion, has just enough orange in it – it’s almost scented with it – but I suppose if you wanted a really orangey biscuit you could add some orange flavouring…I don’t think you need it.

Anyways, here’s the recipe:

What you need…

• 150g butter at room temperature
• 75g caster sugar
• 200g plain flour
• 25g cornflour
• (A pinch of salt if you’ve used unsalted butter)
• Zest of 1 orange
• 100g dark chocolate chips or finely chopped dark chocolate

What you do with it…

• Preheat the oven to 180C (160C if fan-forced) and line a couple of baking trays with baking parchment
• Cream together the butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy. I use the free-standing mixer for this.
• Mix in the orange zest and chocolate chips.
• Sift together the flours and add them and a pinch of salt and then mix until it forms a stiff dough.
• Tip it onto a floured work surface and gently knead it until smooth – it shouldn’t need too much.
• Roll it out until it’s about 1cm thick and use a cookie or scone cutter to cut into your desired shapes. Carefully place each shortbread on your tray, leaving a little space between each biscuit and prick the tops with a fork.
• Bake for about 15-20 minutes. The edges should be golden. Let them cool a little in the tray before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.