Magazine Monday #20: Mocha Viennese Shortbread

The end of the Christmas baking is nigh!

I'm still hosting Magazine Mondays this month, so if you have something you've made and would like to submit, please let me know and I'll put up a link for you. Ivonne should be back in January.

Joining me this week is Debbie of Taste of Sweetness, with a recipe from Bon Appetit called Walnut and Dried Cherry Salad. Be sure to go and check it out because it looks amazing! Also, Mam of One Mother of a Blog has made a recipe from the Dec. 2002 issue of Gourmet, a chick pea and pasta soup that looks extremely hearty and perfect for a cold winter's eve! Be sure to check that out, too. Thanks to both of these fine food bloggers for participating!

OK, these cookies became a hit last year when I made them for my family, and they were requested again this year. In fact, they are the cookie that adorns the banner at the top of this blog! I suspect, again, that the recipe isn't on the Canadian Living site because it's made its way into the new cookbook, which I continue to be annoyed by. Ah well.

Mocha Viennese Shortbread

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup icing sugar
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
pinch of salt

Icing

3/4 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tsp instant espresso powder
2 oz milk chocolate (optional)

1. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Dissolve espresso powder in vanilla and beat into butter mixture. Sift together flour and cornstarch and stir into the butter mixture to form a soft dough.

2. This is where me and the recipe part ways. Originally, it calls for you to pipe the dough through a star tip onto parchment lined baking sheets. This dough is way too stiff for that and impossible to pipe. But it's too soft to roll out and make cut-outs, even after chilling. So, I use my #70 cookie scoop and make drop cookies that I slightly flatten before putting them into the oven. The scoop is equivalent to 1 tbsp.

3. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes, or until just golden on the bottom. Cool completely.

4. For the icing, beat together sugar and butter until smooth. Dissolve espresso powder in 1 tsp hot water and beat into butter mixture.

5. Again, I part from the original recipe at this point. I pipe the icing through a star tip to make a rosette on the top of each cookie, instead of making a sandwich cookie. This makes them look elegant and gives them a more pleasing shape than just a small drop cookie, so it kinda makes up for not piping the dough.

6. As for the chocolate, the original recipe has you drizzling it over the top of the cookie to decorate. I skip this altogether since my cookies look quite nice with the piped icing. You can go ahead and drizzle if you choose, but I didn't think it was necessary.

Again, if you make these, let me know how it went and what your thoughts about the recipe are. I often think it must be only me who has issues when something doesn't turn out as it looks like it should.

Meanwhile, enjoy! These are a terrific cookie!