Recipe: Dark Chocolate Chip And Lavender Shortbread

Pinch, punch first of the month. Today I am back with the first of five recipes I have planned to share with you this month. Some of them center around upcoming day's such as Shrove Tuesday and St Patrick's Day but the rest of them are centered around Mother's Day which is rapidly approaching for us in the UK. And today is the first of those. Today I'm sharing with you my simple yet tasty recipe for dark chocolate chip and lavender shortbread. Now I know lavender is a slightly more acquired taste but when paired with the dark chocolate chip, it's got a kick to it that isn't too overpowering when you get that mixture of sweet as well.

Ingredients 
- 115g Butter
- 55g Caster Sugar
- A Pinch Of Salt
- 175g Plain Flour
- 100g Dark Chocolate Chips
- 1Tsp Lavender Extract

Method 
1- Pre heat oven to 180C. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
2- In a bowl sieve your flour, salt and sugar.
3- Add your butter and rub together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. This is the grim bit but it's worth it as you get better results using your hands rather than a food processor. Sure you'll get a cramp after a few minutes but it's well worth it.
4- Add your dark chocolate chips and lavender and continue to rub together until it starts to form a dough. This doesn't take long and you don't want to overwork the dough otherwise it'll end up being too crumbly too roll out or cut.
5- Once you have your dough, roll out onto a lightly floured surface until it's about 1/2 an inch thick. Make sure to cover your rolling pin in flour as well so your dough doesn't stick and rip as you roll it.
6- Taking a cutter of any size and shape cut out as many shapes as you can, rerolling your dough when necessary so you get the most out of it.
7- Place your shortbread shapes onto your prepared baking trays and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. You'll know when they're ready to come out as the edges will be firm whilst the insides will still be a little soft.
8- Once cooked, leave too cool on the tray until they've firmed up and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Then all's that left is to enjoy them.