Shortbread cookies are no stranger to a tea party. Add a little cocoa powder and this simple, unassuming cookie goes from wallflower to star!

Okay, that may have been a little dramatic. We are, after all, talking about a cookie.

I did amp up these chocolate shortbread cookies a little by making my own cookie stamp just for the occasion!

I experimented with stamped cookies about a year and a half ago. Click HERE to see that experiment.

Can you tell what I used to make the stamp?

tea time stamp

Alphabet Pasta!

I just glued the letters onto a piece of cardboard–in reverse order and backward! I even made a little handle with stacked pieces of cardboard.

For some reason the “M” was a little thicker than the other letters. It did the best after baking. Perhaps because it smushed into the dough deeper. Some of the thinner letters were a little tricky to read. I think people got the point though.

chocolate shortbread cookies

The recipe is very easy.

I used Martha’s recipe from her Cookies Cookbook. Well, I didn’t follow her recipe exactly. She calls for drizzling the shortbread with melted white chocolate. That obviously wouldn’t work with my fancy stamped cookies. It sure sounds yummy though. I may have to try that next time.

 

martha's cookies

 

Chocolate Shortbread

1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt (DO NOT leave out the salt. I used Kosher salt. That little bit of saltiness with the sweet was delicious.)

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

  1. Preheat oven to 300˚
  2. Pulse all the dry ingredients together in a food processor. Add butter and vanilla, and process until it all starts to stick together.
  3. Shape into a ball. Roll out on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut however you like. I used a garnisher that had a wavy edge to cut my cookies into small sticks. I did a bit of experimenting to get the size just right for my stamp. I even trimmed some off after I stamped because I just thought they looked too wide. Go with what you like!
  4. Bake on parchment paper. I’m terribly sorry, but since my cookies were so small, I just guessed at how long to bake them. I crammed a bunch on my baking stone because I was lazy and didn’t want to make 800 batches! Martha’s recipe says for  3 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch cookies to bake for 20-25 minutes-until firm to the touch. I’m thinking I checked mine at 10 minutes. Sorry, I just don’t remember how long they took. I had just baked so much! I had flour for brains!

They turned out great–however long I baked them! They were very yummy!

I neglected to get a good picture of the cookies after they had baked. You can barely see the corner of one on the picture below.

stamped tea cookie