Very Chocolate shortbread originally posted in "Valentine's Day Cookies."
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa (the recipe suggested Hershey's Special Dark because it makes the cookies black and they look really cool).
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
2.5 tsp vanilla
Directions
Preheat oven to 325F and take out two non-stick baking sheets or line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a bowl. (Do not skip this step as cocoa powder has a tendency to clump. You want the dry ingredients sifted to ensure a tender cookie.) Set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar by hand. Then add the vanilla and mix in. If you do not want to cream by hand, follow the instructions in the original recipe.
Mix the dry ingredients into the creamed butter and sugar. This will make a flaky mess. Squeeze it into dough by hand (make sure your hands are clean).
To make hearts, I placed the dough on wax paper rolled the dough into a log with about a 2 inch diameter. Then I left it in the refrigerator (wrapped in the wax paper) for about an hour. After the hour, I took it out and pressed two of the sides into the counter, making the log a triangle with one rounded side. Then make a small indentation int he rounded side, running the length of the log. Cut the log into 1/4 inch thick cookies and tweak the shape to make them hearts. Alternatively, roll to about 1/4 inch thick and cut into desired shapes and place on the baking sheets about 1-inch apart
A finished cookie, one cut from the log, and the log.
Bake the cookies for 15min 30sec (or that's what I did) or until they are sightly hard around the edges and smell like fresh-baked cookies.
When they cool slightly, sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Enjoy! These cookies are VERY RICH. Be warned.