The best thing about shortbread is that it takes less time to make compared to making cookies.....(no rolling the dough into a cookie)....cream butter and sugar... add flour...... press into a pan and bake it....yes, thats it!!!...this is one of my kids favorite shortbread ..... and the easiest!!. I love the chocolatechips on top....It gives enough chocolatey flavour....though Nidhi likes to top it with chocolate sauce....either way it is yummy!!!

I came across this while surfing the net and thought I will share it...it is a brief history of shortbread cookies.........."They started in Scotland way back when cooking, compared to today's standards, was crude. Of course they have evolved over time to what we know today. The original shortbread cookie recipe probably included oat flour but when the English adopted it they substituted wheat flour. In Tudor England oats were considered animal food. Traditional shortbread is baked in a round and then cut into wedges.

The story has it that the ancient Scots baked shortbread in the winter months and put cuts in the shortbread rounds to represent the suns rays. I suppose this was some sort of ritual to persuade the sun to return and do away with the cold winter. The wintertime tradition holds on though because shortbread cookie recipes are among the most popular Christmas time cookie recipes".
Source: Cookie recipe club.

This recipe is adapted from one of my favorite recipe book "Everyday chocolate" published by Parragon Books and the actual recipe calls for golden caster sugar....I used powdered sugar instead.

Recipe Source: Everyday chocolate (Parragon Books)
Ingredients:
Butter: 115 g/4oz (plus extra for greasing).
Powdered sugar: 55 g/2 oz.
Plain flour: 115 g/4oz.
Cornflour: 55 g/2 oz
Chocolate chips: 40g/ 1 1/2 oz .(I used more to get more chocolate in each bite!!).

Method:
1. Grease a 9-inch loose based fluted tart tin and keep aside.Cream butter and sugar.

2. Sift flour and cornflour into this and make it into a smooth dough.

3. Press it with your fingertips into the greased tart tin.

4. Prick with fork all over.

5. Sprinkle chocolate chips generously on top and press them lightly into the surface. Bake until cooked but not browned about 20-30 min. Mark into 8 portions with a knife...cool in the tin for 10 min, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.