Chocolate Shortbread Wedges is a sophisticated treat for chocolate lovers. Serve the shortbread with a pot of your finest coffee.

Ingredients 

1½ cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup Dutch-processed cocoa

powder

¼ teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1½ sticks)

unsalted butter, softened ½

cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method

LIGHTLY butter a 9½-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. WHISK together the flour, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl.

USING an electric mixer, beat the butter in a large bowl until creamy. Add the sugar and beat well until fully blended. 

Mix in the vanilla. With the beaters on low speed, mix in the flour mixture until fully in corporated. (At first the dough will resemble fine crumbs, but after a little more beating the dough will come together in soft clumps.)

Spread the dough in the prepared pan, pressing it in evenly with your fingers to flatten and smooth the top. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until firm.

PREHEAT the oven to 300°F. Prick the dough with a fork every inch or so (going all the way through to the pan bottom) in 2 concentric circles.

Press around the rim with the tines of the fork to make small decorative lines.

Bake in the upper middle of the oven for 63 to 65 minutes or until the shortbread feels mostly firm around the edge and semifirm in the center. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes.

CAREFULLY remove the outer ring of the tart pan. (I do this by setting the pan on a small bowl and letting the ring drop down.)

Place the shortbread, still on the pan bottom, on a cutting board. While it is still warm, cut the shortbread into quarters using a thin, sharp knife or a pizza cutter, and then cut each quarter into 4 wedges. (These will be too hard to cut if you let the shortbread cool completely.)

Using a narrow metal spatula, carefully transfer the wedges to a rack to cool. STORE in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks. MAKES 16 WEDGES