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Recipe Detail Page
White Chocolate & Clementine Shortbread Sandwiches
Holiday 2011
White chocolate and clementine oranges are a match made in heaven, however it is best to avoid expensive white chocolate here. Look for coating chocolate, or even chocolate chips, made using vegetable oil instead of cocoa butter. It is less fussy to work with and will set more firmly. Cookies will keep, loosely covered, at room temperature for up to 3 days.
SHORTBREAD
4 cups (1 L) all-purpose flour
½ tsp (2 mL) salt
2 cups (500 mL) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (250 mL) icing sugar
2 tsp (10 mL) vanilla extract
CLEMENTINE FILLING
½ cup (125 mL) butter
2 tsp (10 mL) clementine zest
2 tbsp (30 mL) clementine juice
2 cups (500 mL) icing sugar, sifted
6 oz (175 g) chopped white chocolate
1 Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and continue beating until smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour and salt and stir until just combined. Divide dough into 2, flatten each into discs an inch (2.5 cm) thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
2 Preheat oven to 300°F (150°C).
3 On a lightly floured surface and working with 1 piece of dough at a time, roll out to a scant ¼-inch (5-mm) thickness. Cut into rounds using a 2-inch (5-cm) round cookie cutter. Place on cookie sheets and refrigerate an additional 30 minutes. Bake for 20 minutes, or until cookies are firm and a very light golden at edges. Allow to cool on pans for 5 minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely.
4 To make filling: using an electric mixer at medium-speed, cream butter and Clementine zest in a small mixing bowl. Reduce speed to low and beat in clementine juice. Add sugar gradually until fully incorporated, increase speed to high, and continue to beat until filling is fluffy and pale, about 3 minutes.
5 To assemble sandwiches, turn half of the shortbread over and place 1 tsp (5 mL) of filling in the centre of each. Top with an undressed cookie, and press until filling is evenly distributed, but not quite to the edge. Once all of the sandwiches are assembled, melt chocolate in a medium bowl placed over a pot of simmering water. Working with 1 cookie at a time, spread a small amount of chocolate over the top of the cookie to cover top surface completely (bottom and sides will be uncoated). Continue until all sandwiches are decorated and leave on rack until chocolate is completely set, about 2 hours.
Makes 2 dozen cookies