Making holiday ornaments out of cookies may not be unique, but taking those holiday cookie “ornaments” and turning them into a garland is something fun and different. It’s also surprisingly easy. All you need is holiday cookie cutters, some twine or ribbon to string the cookies along, and, of course a great recipe for holiday cookies! This recipe is a smart and delicious twist on the classic French sablé (shortbread) cookie. We’ve used cocoa and almond flour to create a light and delcious (and gluten-free) shortbread cookie.
To take this gluten-free chocolate shortbread recipe a step further, we’ve added white chocolate to the icing we’ll use to pipe the cookies. The intention here is to make the cookies look natural and rustic – we’re not looking for perfection! The overall aesthetic should have a Scandinavian christmas vibe. One last innovative tweak to the recipe: We’ve taken cocoa beans and ground them roughly (we used a tea towel folded over three cocoa beans, then used a small hammer to shatter the beans), and we sprinkled the results on the icing while it was still wet.
Chocolate Shortbread Garland With White Chocolate Icing
Equipment
- cookie cutters of various shapes
- 1 ribbon for the garland
- 1 small parchment paper cone
Ingredients
- 60 g soft butter
- 55 g icing sugar
- 1 egg
- 155 g flour
- 30 g cocoa powder
- 20 g almond powder
- 1 pinch fine Kosher salt
- 3 cocoa beans optional
Icing
- 150 g pastry fondant
- 50 g white chocolate
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix the butter with the icing sugar. Add the egg, mix well, then add the flour, cocoa, ground almonds and fleur de sel, mix to form a ball. Roll it out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to a thickness of 1 cm and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- With cookie cutters, cut shortbread cookies, reserve the outlines. Form a small hole at the top of each shortbread with a small straw. Slide the plate in the fridge for another 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the shortbread cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, watching closely, they should brown without colouring too much. Take them out of the oven and let them cool on a wire rack.
- For the glaze: melt the chocolate in a double boiler over low heat. Heat the fondant in a saucepan over low heat or in the microwave with 1 tbsp. water. Whisk to smooth the icing, it should be fluid but covering. Off the heat, pour in the melted chocolate and stir to smooth. Pour into a cone with the end cut off and draw patterns on the biscuits according to your inspiration.
- Crush the cocoa beans and sprinkle the parts of the shortbread that have a thick layer of icing to stick them. Leave to dry before threading the shortbread cookies delicately on a ribbon or pretty string to make a garland.
