Chocolate Short bread

Why I Love This Recipe
Ingredients You'll Need
1 cup butter (use good-quality butter! it makes all the difference.)
3/4 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Directions
preheat oven to 300F.
cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
sift together flour and cocoa, then blend into butter-sugar mixture, mixing until the dough holds together. refrigerate for a few minutes if the dough is too soft and sticky.
form into 1-inch balls and flatten into a parchment-lined and greased baking pan leaving 3 inch spaces in between.(cookies will expand)
bake for 30-35 minutes or until edges are firm. cool for 2-3 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. keep in an air-tight container.
for plain shortbread:
omit cocoa powder and increase flour to 2 1/8 cups. (2 1/4 cups if dough is still "wet") optional: add 1-2 tsp vanilla extract into the butter-sugar mixture.
I like pressing black or white sesame seeds, poppyseeds, rolled oats or flaxseed on top before baking.