Much like my mom’s famous Holiday Cookies she makes every year, these Chocolate Shortbread Cookies have the same reputation. In Arabic, these cookies are known as Betefour. They are incredibly soft and buttery. These cookies are a staple in Egypt and are baked during many major holidays such as Christmas and Easter. I grew up eating these cookies and I’m excited to share this little piece of holiday cheer with everyone else. Please give them a try and enjoy!
INGREDIENTS
• 2 cups flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 2 and ½ Tbs baking cocoa
• 1 cup and 1 Tbs butter (softened)
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbs milk
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees
- In a small bowl, mix one tablespoon of butter with the baking cocoa until well blended. Set aside for now
- In a separate bowl, add the remaining one cup of butter with the powdered sugar, egg yolks, vanilla and milk. Mix on medium until well combined and very smooth
- Add the flour, salt and baking powder to the wet ingredients and mix together with HAND or SPATULA (do not use a mixer for this part as it will change the consistency of the dough)
- Next, add the cocoa and butter mixture you prepared earlier into the bowl with all the ingredients. Mix well until everything is well combined and smooth
- Once everything is blended well, use a Cookie Press machine to make your cookies into different shapes. Put as much dough as will fit in the cookie press machine and choose whichever shapes you like (usually the kit comes with several cookie discs to choose from)
- Press the machine unto a NON-GREASED baking pan (the dough will be fairly fragile once it’s shaped, so make sure you press the machine directly unto the pan otherwise it will be difficult to move the shaped dough once it’s pressed)
- If you want to add any sprinkles or decoration, now would be the time to do it so that it sticks to the cookie. You can add anything you like! I used regular sprinkles and mini chocolate chips.
- Once the baking pan is filled and cookies are decorated, place it in the preheated oven and bake for about 10 minutes (Cookies will burn easily if you leave them in too long so make sure to check on them regularly because cooking time will vary depending on each oven)
- Remove from oven, let cool and store in an airtight container at room temperature. Enjoy!
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