Melt-in-your-mouth chocolate shortbread cookies are easy to make and a great cookie for gifting. You only need a few simple ingredients to make them, the dough can be made in advance, and the baked cookies can be stored at room temperature, in the refrigerator or the freezer.
I really like chocolate shortbread cookies and have made several versions over the years, including Dorie Greenspan’s famous World Peace Cookies. I always like trying new ones and this recipe today is a new favorite. They are crumbly, buttery and melt in your mouth plus they aren’t overly sweet, either.
What I love best about making shortbread is that you don’t need a lot of ingredients and the dough is pretty easy to make. They are popular during the holiday season, but I like to make these kinds of cookies all year. They’re too good to only make once a year.
What are shortbread cookies?
Shortbread is actually a traditional Scottish cookie, although they call cookies “biscuits”. Shortbread cookies get their name because they are “short” which is a term that means “crumbly” in baking. The cookies are made with a lot of butter, which gives them their crumbly melt-in-your-mouth texture.
You only need a few ingredients to make these chocolate shortbread cookies.
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter
- Confectioner’s sugar
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Dutch-processed cocoa powder
How to Make Them
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla and mix again until combined. On low speed, add the flour and cocoa powder and mix the dough just until the flour disappears.
Place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll it into a rectangle approximately ¼” thick. Chill the dough for at least two hours.
Cut the dough into 1 ½” rectangles. Place the cookies on a baking sheet and bake them for 18 to 20 minutes at 325°F.
Recipe Tips
Mixing the Dough: Be sure to measure your ingredients accurately when you make the shortbread dough, especially the sugar. Adding too much sugar can make your shortbread cookies chewy instead of crumbly.
When you add the flour and cocoa flour, be sure to only mix until you no longer see the flour. This will ensure you don’t overmix the dough, which can make your cookies tough and hard.
Chilling the Dough: The nice thing about shortbread cookies is that you can make the dough up to two days in advance. At the very least, you need to chill the shortbread dough for two hours. This gives the butter time to solidify. If your dough is not firm the cookies may spread too much while they bake.
Cutting the Dough: I cut my chocolate shortbread dough into rectangles, but you can cut your cookies into pretty much any shape you like. I’ve made pumpkin-shaped and heart-shaped shortbread cookies. I’ve made pinecone and Christmas tree ones, too! Or, you can do simple round-shaped shortbread cookies, too.
Baking Tip: Be sure to keep an eye on your shortbread cookies while they bake. Depending on your oven (or the size of your cookies if you make a different shape) they make take more or less time than what is listed in the instructions. The cookies are done when they have firmed up.
Storage: One thing I love about shortbread cookies is that they keep well, so they are great as cookie gifts for the holidays. Stored in an airtight container, shortbread cookies will keep up to a week at room temperature. Store them in the refrigerator and they will keep up to 10 days.
Or, you can freeze your shortbread cookies. Wrap them tightly and they should keep up to a month in the freezer. Be sure that your cookies are cooled completely before freezing them.
These don’t last long at our house – my family loves that they’re not too sweet. I hope you give them a try!
More Recipes to Try
- Chocolate Sugar Cookies
- Cinnamon Cappuccino Cookies
- Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies
- Peanut Butter Shortbread
- Rich Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 oz unsalted butter room temperature
- 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 1/2 tbsp dutch processed cocoa powder
Instructions
- In a stand mixer, beat butter and confectioners’ sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is very smooth. Beat in vanilla, then reduce mixer speed to low and add flour and cocoa powder, mixing only until it disappears into the dough.
- Gather dough and place in between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll the dough into a rectangle shape that’s 1/4 inch thick. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours.
- Once the dough is firm, preheat the oven to 325°F. Cut the dough into 1 1/2-inch rectangles. Bake the cookies for 18 to 20 minutes.
Notes
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Hi. Could you use cookie stamps with this recipe? I bought those William Sonoma stamps
It should work fine just be sure to chill the cookie dough as instructed. Let us know how it works for you!
These look great. Does it have to be Dutch process or can it be natural unsweetened?
either one should work for this recipe. I prefer dutch processed as I think it has a smoother and less bitter finish.
About how many would this make?
about 3 dozen
I love these!! Chocolate shortbread is perfect. And you know, my gym was packed on Jan 2. Since then? Empty!
ha! that’s funny that people tried for one day.
Mmm, these taste delicious! I had a hard time keeping little hands out of the mixture, since it still tasted nice before cooking. However, I am glad they left enough to cook, since these taste wonderful!
glad you like them!
Love a classic shortbread cookie.. these chocolate cookies just look SO delicious!
I really love the dark brown
Hahah I like how Mr. K’s gifts were at the same time self serving but very generous and thoughtful. The shortbread looks great against the dark slate background!! Love chocolate shortbread over vanilla too 🙂
haha, he is sneaky isn’t he?
These cookies are so good thanks for the recipe.???
Also they dont need to be in the fridge for 2 hours only until they get hard maybe 30 min then bake them its easy there really good.
I’m glad you enjoyed!