Chocolate-Dipped Orange Shortbread Hearts
Orange zest perfumes these small butter biscuits without adding juice to the dough. Dip just one edge in dark chocolate so the heart shape stays visible. A 5 cm cutter makes about 18 biscuits, depending on how closely you cut the shapes and how often you reroll the scraps.
For the dough and dip
- 115 g softened unsalted butter, 50 g caster sugar and 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- Finely grated zest of 1 orange and 160 g plain flour
- 80 g dark chocolate, finely chopped
- Baking parchment, a rolling pin and a 5 cm heart cutter
Shape and bake
Heat the oven to 160 C fan (180 C conventional). Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingertips until fragrant. Work in the butter and salt with a wooden spoon until smooth, then stir in the flour. Squeeze the crumbs together with your hands just until they hold. Avoid beating extra air into the butter, which can make the edges less distinct.
Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment to 6 mm thick. Chill the sheet flat for 20 minutes, peel off the top paper, and cut out hearts. Transfer them to a lined tray, leaving 2 cm between biscuits. Reroll the scraps once and chill briefly again if they soften. Bake for 12 to 16 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden. Leave on the tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Dip without breaking the points
Melt the chocolate in a dry bowl in short microwave bursts, stirring between each burst and stopping when stirring melts the last small pieces. Hold a biscuit by its widest part, dip one side, and let excess chocolate run back into the bowl. Set the biscuits on fresh parchment until the coating firms.
If the dough cracks while cutting, let it soften for a minute or two. If it sticks instead, chill it again and wipe any butter off the cutter. Use a dry spoon to drizzle the chocolate if the last few biscuits are too fragile to dip.
