This recipe is a combination of my two favourite things in the whole wide world; shortbread and chocolate. A match made in heaven. It’s a simple shortbread recipe, taken from the Great British Bake Off (a great show) Book of Baking, and I’ve also added some variations that could make it really interesting.

Ingredients:

100g caster sugar

260g flour

200g butter

40g cocoa powder

To make:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius.

Mix in all the dry ingredients thoroughly, then rub in the butter until you have lots of fine crumbs.

Tip into a round tin and press in with a fork or spoon, so it is packed tightly. Prick and score it also to make it easier to break into pieces once cooked.

Pop in the oven til firm – usually about 25 – 30 minutes. Remove, and cut along the scored lines. Then leave to cool.

Changes:

Chocolate Orange shortbread: add the zest of an orange for a bit of a kick and crumble in some chocolate orange pieces.

Lemon shortbread: swap the cocoa powder for corn flour and add the zest of a lemon.

Double chocolate: add chocolate chips!