Toblerone Chunk Shortbread Cookies

You know how some people are known for a certain recipe? Well, I'm known for these. They're from my first cookbook, Generation Eats. 

It was the late 1990s. I had been double-testing dozens of recipes for the cookbook and realized too late that I was plum out of granulated sugar. So I used brown sugar instead. My plan was to make milk chocolate chip shortbreads, but it turned out I was also out of chocolate chips. (What can I tell you? I was young and fool-hearted.)

So, what to do when the chips are down?

I had a photo shoot for these dishes the following day, the stores were already closed, but the cookies had to get made. So I grabbed a couple of Toblerone bars (this is where a nascent chocolate addiction comes in handy), chopped them up, put the chunks on top of the shortbreads and baked them off. 

A star was born.

TOBLERONE CHUNK SHORTBREAD COOKIES

(makes about 3 dozen)

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 regular sized (100g) Toblerone bars, chopped into large chunks

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla and gradually add flour until dough comes together into a ball. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Roll out dough on floured workspace, cut into squares or rectangles (or both) and use a spatula to lift cookies onto an ungreased baking sheet, spaced a bit apart. Place a chunk or two of chocolate on top of each cookie. Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes or until cookies just start to turn lightly browned.