Blue Cheese Shortbreads

From the book The Basic Gourmet Entertains by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, and Kathleen Taggart

Yield

9 to 10 dozen shortbreads

Introduction

We love shortbread cookies and came up with the idea of substituting blue cheese for some of the butter in classic shortbread. The results are spectacular–the shortbreads are easy to make, store well, and taste great with our cocktails. We give directions using a food processor. An electric mixer or pastry blender will work just as well, but first use a knife to mince the parsley. A blender is not the right tool for this task.

Ingredients

	2¼	cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
	6	sprigs fresh parsley, with about 2 inches of stems
	8	oz. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, 30 minutes at room temperature, cut into small cubes
	8	oz. blue cheese, crumbled (see Cook’s Notes)
	¾	cup (about 6 ounces) slivered, blanched almonds

Steps

1. In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, place flour and parsley. Process until parsley is well minced into flour. Remove lid, and distribute butter and cheese evenly over flour mixture. Use pulse button to mix just until a dough begins to form. It is better to gather dough into a mass with your hands than to run machine until a ball forms. Place dough on a large sheet of plastic wrap, flatten into a disk, and cover completely with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour before rolling out.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place dough in center of a lightly floured work surface and dust top of dough with flour. Lightly flour a rolling pin, and roll dough ¼ inch thick. Cut out shortbreads with a 1¼-inch-diameter cookie cutter (round, scalloped-edge round, star, or whatever shape you choose) and place ½ inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Gather unused pieces of dough, dust with flour, re-roll, and cut out until all dough is used. Lightly press a piece of almond onto top center of each cookie. Bake until lightly browned at edges, about 25 minutes. You’ll need to bake the cookies in batches; refrigerate unbaked cookies until ready to bake. Cool on wire racks. Divide among 2 serving plates, or place on 1 large platter.

Notes

• There are many types of blue cheese—American blue, Danish blue, French Roquefort, Gorgonzola. All will work fine in this recipe. One of our favorites is Maytag blue cheese (yep, the same Maytag as the washing machines). Produced in Iowa, it has a wonderful flavor and texture. You can even mail-order it!
• These shortbreads freeze well unbaked. Roll and cut out the cookies, layer between sheets of waxed paper, and freeze in a covered container. You can make them up to 1 month ahead. Bake from a frozen state, allowing for a slightly longer baking time. Alternatively, baked short-breads will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days in a covered tin. Layer them between sheets of waxed paper or foil.

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