Spiced Shortbread Dipped in White Chocolate and Chopped Pistachios - Bakemas Day 1

I’ve been thinking about this since December 1st last year and I'm still not sure I'm entirely mentally prepared. I'm sure if you’re familiar with the internet and youtube you'll have heard of a thing called vlogmas. For any of you who have no idea what I'm talking about it’s when vloggers/people make a video everyday in December on the lead up to Christmas to document all the Christmasy things they're doing, so being the type of person who likes to set them self tasks that I'm slightly unsure I can achieve naturally I thought this was a brilliant idea. I came up with this idea last year, although I’m sure there are other food bloggers who do something similar, but spent way too long umming and ahhing over it. In that case I've technically had 12 months to prepare for this, although it’s the 1st I’m still pretty unprepared and still a tiny bit unsure this is the best idea but we’re going to roll with the punches. So I'm coining this Bakemas! 24 days, 24 recipes, potentially pictures of all the Christmas I’ve injected into my room which by the way doesn’t even have a tree in yet, I know I know it’s going up tonight, and probably a lot of Christmas stories. I’m sure I’ll spend the majority of the month stressing and having a million and one things to do but I’ve sort of grown accustomed to that feeling. I’ll just keep my fingers crossed that my ability to procrastinate like a champion doesn’t mean I end up spending the entire 24 days in the kitchen and chained to my laptop because having time to watch endless amounts of Christmas films and spend a lot of time in pyjamas drinking hot chocolate is extremely important. On that note, these are the perfect accompaniment to hot chocolate or coffee (I can't vouch for tea but potentially that too) taste amazing and really easy to whip up. Happy Bakemas!

350g plain flour
150g caster sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground ginger
200g butter/margarine
200g white chocolate
50g pistachios, chopped

Preheat the oven 160C/325F/Gas 3
Put the flour, sugar, spices and butter into a bowl and rub in the butter or margarine with your fingertips. Knead gently to bring together and form a dough. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about 1cm thick and cut into circles. Place the biscuits on a baking tray covered with greaseproof paper. Bake in a preheated oven for 25 minutes, (if you want thinner shortbread about half the thickness they’ll take 15-20 minutes) After cooked, place the shortbread on a cooling rack.
Once the shortbread has cooled melt the chocolate in the microwave on a low heat or in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Dip the shortbread half way into the chocolate and place on a wire rack or baking paper and sprinkle with the chopped pistachios. Place the biscuits in the fridge for about 15 minutes until the chocolate has just set and serve. Store in a tin.