Light Bites Baking

Rose & Dark Chocolate Shortbread

Shortbread is brilliantly adaptable – you can add so many different flavours to it and create something new. Here, we’ve included rose and given the biscuits a chocolate coating, a combination that works beautifully.

25 minutes plus chilling and cooling prep, 30 minutes cook

Serves 20

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter, at room temperature

100g caster sugar

1 lemon, zest

½-1 tsp rose water (rose water can vary in intensity, so add just a little at a time)

1 tsp vanilla extract

300g plain flour

2 tbsp Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients dried rose petals, plus extra to decorate (or similar)

200g dark chocolate

Method

Put the butter, sugar, lemon zest, rose water (to taste) and vanilla in a large bowl and, using an electric mixer, beat together for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.

Scrape the bowl down and add the flour, a pinch of salt and the rose petals, mixing together briefly until it comes together as a dough. Tip the dough onto the work surface and bring together into a ball.

Flatten with your hands, then roll out to a 25cm square; place on a baking tray and chill until firm – about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 170˚C, gas mark 3; line 2 baking trays with parchment. Halve the dough, then cut into 2.5cm-thick fingers and pierce all over with a fork.

Put the biscuits on the prepared baking trays and bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and microwave in 30 second bursts until about ¾ of the chocolate has melted. Mix vigorously with a spatula until fully melted (this is a quick method of tempering the chocolate).

Dip the shortbread halfway into the chocolate, allow the excess to drip off, then lay on a clean sheet of parchment to set, decorating with a few extra rose petals.

Once the chocolate has set, you can store the shortbread in an airtight container for up to 4 days.