Salt and Pepper Cocoa Shortbreads

Book club celebrates its anniversary in February and though I’ve only been around one year to its eight, it and its members and have been good to me. And, it was a good justification to bake cookies.
These salt and pepper cocoa shortbreads are from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking, and the first recipe I’ve tried from there. I wanted something a little different that would still stand up to bake ahead and bring along and I liked the idea of the spice with the chocolate. Salted caramels after all are notoriously good, and I remember a chocolate pepper cake my sister once baked for New Year’s which we all thought would have been phenomenal had she not misread tablespoon for teaspoon in the pepper measurement.
You don’t get a huge spicy hit with these, but you do taste a lot of chocolate flavor. They’re dry cookies – don’t eat with them without a glass of water at the least, if not some good tea or hot cocoa – and not as finely crumbly nor crisp as shortbread can be, and somehow intensely likeable.
Also very helpful was Dorie’s suggestion of placing the shortbread logs in a cardboard paper towel roll – I used half of a wrapping paper roll – which helps the cookies keep the round shape as they chill. Brilliant idea: they look so neat and perfect, Rob said they look like slice and bake cookies. Which they are, in a sense, but one cookie’s all you need to know that you don't come across these in with the Pillsburys at the store. If the recipe title sounds good to you, you’ll like these cookies.