Winter White Amaretto Shortbread

I have always loved shortbread, and its ever-presence in bakery cases from the East to West coasts suggests I'm not alone.  (In fact, it seems there's an ongoing debate as to whether it's the greatest British biscuit of all time.)  

Although I've claimed to bake to the tunes of American rock 'n roll, I'm going to cheat (just a little!).  I've created some American-Italian Amaretto shortbread (edged in almond and white chocolate), traditionalized with a dash of England: A live version of the Clash's "London Calling", featuring some rad close-ups of the ever-cool Joe Strummer.

Dough:

--3 c. flour

--1 1/2 c. butter, softened

--1 1/2 c. confectioner's sugar

--1 egg yolk

--4 tbsp. amaretto liqueur (if you want this flavor to be especially strong, you can add another tbsp)

--1 tsp. vanilla

--dash of salt

Blend butter and confectioner's sugar until smooth.  Mix in 1 egg yolk.  Add amaretto and vanilla.  To this blended mixture, add flour and salt.  Mix until dough forms, then wrap in plastic and refrigerate for approximately 1 hour.  (You can refrigerate the dough for longer if you'd like--up to a few days.)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut it in half.  On a lightly floured surface, lightly roll each block of dough into an approx. 1/4" rectangular shape and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet (don't over-roll it!).  Bake at 325 degrees for approx. 30 minutes, or until your giant cookie rectangles are lightly browned.  Remove from oven.  While the shortbread is still warm, cut into whatever shape(s) you'd like--you can use a cookie cutter, a circular biscuit cutter, or you can cut by hand (which I did, to make pie-like cookie slices). 

White chocolate almond dip:

--1/2 bag white chocolate chips (I always use Ghirardelli)

--1/2 cup almonds, chopped

--2 tbsp. vegetable oil

In a small saucepan, heat--on low!--white chocolate chips and 2 tbsp. vegetable oil.  (The vegetable oil makes this mixture smooth and creamy, but you could also substitute the vegetable oil for cocoa butter, if you'd prefer it.)  Once chocolate is melted and smooth, mix in chopped almonds.  Individually dip the edges of your cookies into the white chocolate mixture and allow to cool in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes, or until chocolate has hardened.  Store in an airtight container.