Shortbread cookies

  Ingredients:
All purpose flour- 2 cups or 260 gms,
Salted butter- 1 cup or 226 gms ( room temperature ),
Icing sugar- 1/2 cup or 60 gms,
Vanilla essence- 1tsp,
Expresso coffee- 1 tbsp 

For chocolate dipping:
Semi sweet chocolate- 180 gms ( chopped )

Method :
In a separate bowl whisk flour and coffee and set aside.

In a bowl of your mixer ,beat the butter until smooth and creamy ( 1 minute ).

Add the sugar and beat until smooth ( 2 minutes ).

Beat in the vanilla essence.

Gently stir in the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated.

Gather the dough on a plastic sheet or cling film .
Flatten the dough into a disc shape and then wrap.

Keep the wrapped dough in the fridge for at least an hour or until firm.
Pre heat oven to 350 F or 177 C.
Line a baking tray with a greased butter paper.
Since the weather is hot and humid,I had to roll the dough on the cling film.
Spread 2 sheets below and 2 sheets on top of the dough.
You can roll the dough on a floured surface, if weather permits.
Roll the dough into 1/4 inch thick circle.

Cut into round or any shape you like with a lightly floured cookie cutter.

Place on a baking sheet one inch apart.

Place the tray in the fridge for 15 minutes ( this firms the dough so that the cookies will maintain their shape when baked.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are lightly brown.
Cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate dip:
Heat 1/4 of the chocolate in microwave for 30 seconds.
The chocolate will soften. Remove from oven and then add the remaining chocolate to it.

Stir with a spoon until it has  completely melted and is smooth and glossy.

Taking one cookie at a time ,dip one end of each cookie in the melted chocolate and place it on a tray lined with butter paper.

Once all the cookies have been dipped in the chocolate,place the baking sheet in the fridge for 10 minutes or until the chocolate has hardened.
The cookies can be kept in a container for 1 week.

Makes 20 cookies.
Adding fresh coffee to the flour gives the cookies a very nice flavour and you get a distinct taste of coffee while enjoying the cookies.