Vanilla Bean Shortbread - Two Ways

Have your shortbread and eat it t(w)o.

Hi Bakers!

Continuing on our Countdown to Easter are these tender, buttery shortbread cookies. The simple dough is made with few ingredients combined with the seeds of a plump vanilla bean. After splitting in half, these two-tone cookies become White Chocolate-Lavender and Dark Chocolate-Coffee Shortbread.

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Besides its melt-in-your-mouth texture, ease of making, and incredible flavor, shortbread is the perfect edible gift. Shortbread has a long shelf life, so they are great for bringing as a hostess gift or to send off with parting guests. 

Pack wedges in a tin with tissue paper or tie filled cello bags with ribbon. 

Of course you can enjoy your shortbread any other time too. Serve with afternoon tea, on an Easter dessert platter, or even sneak nibbles for breakfast (I wouldn’t know anything about that - lol). Beyond the holiday, shortbread tucks neatly into lunch boxes or wrapped in beeswax for on-the-go treats. 

From fruity and nutty to floral and robust - there were too many flavor profiles to choose from so I went ahead with two. 

I divided the dough and added lavender and white chocolate to half and coffee granules and dark chocolate to the other. The lavender white chocolate shortbread is creamy and floral while the coffee chocolate shortbread is bold and bittersweet. Both sides benefit from a crunchy, sugary crust.

The base recipe is buttery and versatile. If you’ve been saving a plump vanilla bean pod, this is the recipe you should use it on.

While some shortbread cookies are sandy and crumbly, baking them as wedges means they are both soft and buttery with a little snap around the edges.

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