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housewarming for Childhood Friend tomorrow! So, Chocolate Vegan Shortbread!



First time making this variation, so will have to get feedback from her tomorrow on the final result(to me it tastes very nutty, but that is to be expected as the dairy substitutes are all pretty much nuts)

250g Nuttelex(I used the olive version)
2 cups flour(more like 2 cups and 1/4 to add more consistency to the nuttlex)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup caster sugar
1 bag sweet william dairy free choc chips

preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius(non fan forced)
cream the Nuttelex, sugar and vanilla
knead on a floured surface until smooth
wrap in plastic and fridge for 30 minutes - maybe a bit longer for this vegan variation
roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper to about 5-8mm thickness
cut out shapes with your star cutter!(the thickness is best if the cookie lifts with the cutter and you have to gently shake the cookie out)
put on greased, or non-stick tray
bake for about 20-30 minutes, the bottom of the shortbread should be lightly golden, but can be paler if you prefer
cool on wire rack
melt the sweet william choc chips in the microwave for about a minute
dip the tops of the shortbread in the choc and then put on a tray to set in the fridge

enjoy!

Years ago when I went to the US as a summer camp counselor, I received a crash course in preparing campfire food, american style. One of the things we would get the campers to make(cause we were all about the campers learning skills! like not catching on fire! or melting their rain ponchos!) was called 'Pot of Gold' - it's genius was in it's simplicity, you got your dinner kit from the kitchen after filling out the forms: pot, cutting knife, cheese, tin of tomato soup and tube of dough. That's right, dough in a tube. It was amazing stuff, you'd just get the kids to chop up some squares of cheese, chop off a bit of dough, roll the cheese into the centre and drop the ball into the soup to cook. Insanely delicious and so easy!

When I got home to Australia, with our desperate lack of dough in a tube, I had to create my own version:

1 tin Campbells tomato soup
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup milk
200 grams cheese

Cut the cheese into squares. Mix the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and then melt the butter(don't bother melting it if it's a soft margarine) and add it and the milk. Mix all together with a fork or moosh with your hands. Create balls from the dough and roll the squares of cheese into them. Put the soup in a saucepan as per normal, when it reaches almost boiling add the dumplings. Cook for approx 5-8 minutes.

Variation that I prefer after having too many dumpling dissolve into mush on me(a good tasting mush, though!) - it's more of a bake but still yum:

Same as above, but forget about rolling into balls - moosh the cheese in with everything else, put in the saucepan, cook for about 5 minutes, then place entire thing into a baking tray and put in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the delicious smell makes you take it out and start to eat it.

I make this version with shredded light cheese, skim milk and light margarine, as you don't need to achieve dumpling consistency. It tastes just as good, and makes me feel better about eating so much of it :)