Pecan Shortbread Hearts

By MarieR

The original recipe had white and dark chocolate drizzles but I stuck with my fave - dark chocolate. These are delicious even plain without the chocolate drizzle. This recipe also called for cornstarch, which many shortbread recipes do, but I substituted rice flour, which I use in my regular shortbread recipe. You can find rice flour in the Bob's Red Mill section of the baking aisle.

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 2-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch (I used rice flour instead)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup very finely chopped pecans
• Powdered sugar or 2 ounces each dark chocolate and white chocolate for drizzling

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Into medium bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch or rice flour, and salt.

In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar and vanilla. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture and mix until the dough begins to gather together. Mix in nuts - do not over mix.

Gather dough into a ball and place on a sheet of waxed paper. Flatten dough with a rolling pin between 2 sheets of waxed paper to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. Remove top piece of waxed paper and cut out dough with a 1-3/4 inch heart-shaped cookie cutter.

Place hearts on a parchment or silicone mat-lined baking sheet about 1/2 inches apart. Bake until form to the touch and just beginning to color on the edges, about 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool 5 minutes and then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Sprinkle cooled cookies with powdered sugar or pipe melted chocolate decoratively across cookies or just enjoy plain.