Nothing rings in the holiday season quite like baking a batch of your favorite Christmas cookies. Something about mixing sticks of butter with cups upon cups of sugar and then topping it all off with added chocolate or frosting is pure bliss….and totally justified during the holidays. So to kick of the baking season, I had to go with a classic that I’ve grown up eating. If there is one thing my mom is killer at in the kitchen, it’s her cookie baking skills. I can’t think of a time that I came home for a visit when there wasn’t a plate of fresh, still-warm-from-the-oven, homemade cookies awaiting me. While my absolute favorite of hers is her good ole’ fashion chocolate chip cookies, come Christmas time mom whips up a mean chocolate-dipped shortbread, drawing inspiration from the one and only Mrs. Fields. In honor of that tradition, I thought I’d give my own version of shortbread a whirl. And while I still like my mom’s version, there may be a bake-off in our house come Christmas Eve. These cookie are really simple to make and look fancy on a plate, so they are bound to impress whoever is eating them!
Shortbread
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (I swapped out half of it for whole-wheat pastry flour)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Topping
6 ounces of semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
½ cup almonds, roughtly chopped and toasted
1-2 teaspoons of sea salt to sprinkle on top
**The key to this recipe is using good quality chocolate and toasting your almonds.
Makes two dozen cookies.
Cookies
Start by creaming your butter in an electric mixer, then add sugar and beat until smooth. Be careful to not turn the mixer up too high or you might experience a sugar explosion in your face. Once mixed, add in the vanilla extract and then slowly add in the flour. Mix just until blended, don’t over mix. Gather the dough and form a rectangular log, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for an hour (or stick in the freezer for 30 minutes).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut your dough-log into ¼ inch segments. Then take each segment in your hands and roll/form a mini-log.Place on parchment paper, then put the baking sheet back in the fridge for 10 minutes, to ensure they keep their shape while baking. 
Then bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, until lightly brown. Remove and let cool.
Topping
While you are waiting for your cookies in the oven, coarsely chop your almonds and dry-roast them using a non-stick pan over medium heat. It took mine about 8-10 minutes with frequent stirring to reach a nice golden brown color. Once they reach that color remove from heat and put on a plate.
When your last batch of cookies is cooling, it’s time to prepare the chocolate. In a double boiler set on medium heat (don’t turn it up too high or you’ll burn your chocolate), melt your chocolate chips then mix in your peppermint extract. Now the fun part begins. Using a knife, evenly spread chocolate over half of your shortbread, roll it in the almonds and then add just a touch of sea salt (if desired). I did the chocolate/almond addition to about six cookies at a time and then lightly sprinkled the salt over them. Let chocolate cool then enjoy with a glass of milk.
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