Toblerone Shortbread Cookies

It's been a hairy few weeks and we've all been flying by the seat of our pants in terms of food... as a result, unfortunately there's been nothing of interest to post--not even baking! It must be bad! Work has been crazy so it's been a relief to be able to return to old favourites and, more importantly, to repeat them and eat them as leftovers. The kiddies have also been pitching in and, as is always the case when I'm swamped, Q promptly got on a plane and left town. The timing is uncanny and somewhat suspicious but I guess I can't really question a conference in Whistler in January. He's a smart guy, after all, and who's going to turn down that opportunity? Just bad timing for the rest of us remaining on the homefront.
Anyway, back to domestic issues. I thought I'd at least buy some goodwill from the young 'uns by doing some baking over the weekend. After all, if the cookie jar is full, they must know that their mom at least remembers they exist, even if they're not seeing her very often. Three Toblerones had been sitting on the kitchen countertop for the past week and they were driving Austin and Maddie to distraction. They begged to open them; I refused because I knew they'd be gone as soon as we had a bite. Instead, I was determined to bake with them, and since we hadn't made any shortbread over the Christmas season, chunky Toblerone shortbread cookies seemed like the perfect solution. With just a handful of ingredients and a couple of quick steps, they were minutes in the making and a huge hit for kids who'd been neglected for too long. I've seen some Toblerone cookies with the chocolate triangle embedded on top, but I've never had a lot of success with that technique. Either the chocolate burns or turns white or runs over the sides, so I figured hiding chunks inside was probably the safer bet and so far the critics haven't registered any complaints.

Toblerone Shortbread Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp icing sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch or rice flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 100-gram bars Toblerone, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter until light and fluffy. Sift in icing sugar and beat again until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Sift in cornstarch or rice flour and blend in. Sift in all purpose flour and salt, and mix until dough comes together (it'll be soft). Stir in vanilla and chunks of Toblerone.
Using a 1-inch ice cream scoop, spoon cooking dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Bake for 9 minutes, turn cookie sheets, and bake for another 9 minutes until bottoms brown lightly.
Remove from oven and allow to cool on racks. Makes about 28 cookies.