Hello my lovely tea, tarot, book and baking aficionados!

Wish Bombs, Baking Spells and Recipes - the companion cookbook came into being because readers not only read about the recipes in The Angel Tea House, but wanted to bake them and taste them for themselves, to see what all the fuss was about.

The recipes section of Wish Bombs, Baking Spells and Recipes is divided into sections named after each of the novels in the Maggie McCready's Travelling Tarot Adventures, and today I'm sharing one of the recipes from the first book - The Angel Tea House.

Chocolate Chip Shortbread 

Ingredients 

• 1½ cups plain flour 
•  ½ cup rice flour 
• 230gm softened butter 
• ½ cup icing sugar 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 200gm chocolate chips, divided into ¾ for the recipe and ¼ for the icing 
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted 

Instructions 

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan forced.
2. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. 
3. Sift flour, rice flour and icing sugar together into a bowl. 
4. Add butter and vanilla extract to a bowl and beat until pale and creamy. 
5. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and mix until the dough is smooth. 
6. Add 175gm of chocolate chips to the dough and mix thoroughly to distribute evenly. 
7. Roll dough into 1 long log and place in the fridge to cool – approx. 30 minutes. 
8. Take out and divide into 24 pieces and space out evenly on the baking tray. 
9. Bake until slightly golden around the edges for 15–20 minutes. 
10. Take out the oven and cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing them to cool completely on a wire rack. 
11. Melt the coconut oil and reserved chocolate chips in a small microwave bowl until melted. Blast in 30 second intervals for about 1½–2 minutes, depending on your microwave. 
12. Dip the shortbread into chocolate and return to baking sheet. 
13. Refrigerate until firm and place on baking paper in an airtight tin. 

Author’s Note: You can freeze the uncooked dough by dividing the log into pieces, individually wrapping them in parchment paper and then freezing them in a zip lock bag. Thaw before cooking and bake as above and you will always have fresh shortbread! I love this recipe because it’s sooo easy, and your guests will love it! And… it’s perfect for spelling. 

And as a little taste throughout the book you'll find quotes from Maggie's adventures just like this one...

 “It's not every community that opens its heart to a practitioner of the witchy arts.”  

Books, brews and blessings

Melody