Chocolate shortbread cookies made with melted chocolate. Small batch chocolate shortbread sticks are great for dunking in tea or coffee. Using melted chocolate instead of cocoa makes these shortbread cookies intensely chocolatey and rich. Perfect for an edible holiday gift or for a Christmas cookie exchange.
Chocolate shortbread cookies:
These cookies absolutely take my breath away. They're slightly crumbly and intensely chocolate-y. I could pretty much always go for a chocolate shortbread cookie, if they are sitting on my counter. We all have a hard time walking by these cookies and not stealing one, just to check if they are still, in fact, as rich as they were the last time we took a bite.
The reason this chocolate shortbread recipe is the actual best on the internet is because the dough is made with melted chocolate. Most shortbread recipes call for cocoa powder, and that's great, but melted chocolate is even better.
I consider myself a bit of a cookie expert, after 800 recipes on this site over 10 years and 4 cookbooks, of course, and I want to say that shortbread is the most underrated cookie out there. People go crazy for perfect chocolate chip cookies with pools of melted chocolate and chewy little sugar cookies, but shortbread is the real lionheart.
Shortbread cookie is made from more butter than it is flour, and so the cookies are rich, perfectly textured and intensely flavored. When I made my honey shortbread recipe, I wasn't expected to be so blown away by the way butter caramelizes and tastes like toffee in the oven. And if it's possible to make an even better shortbread cookie, it has to be this chocolate version.
Chocolate shortbread ingredients:
Brace yourself, because the ingredient list for shortbread cookies is shockingly short. So, it goes without saying that when we bake with such few ingredients, the ingredients need to be the highest quality. I'm talking intense, fruity dark chocolate chips (I like these by Ghirardelli), and rich European style butter (like unsalted Kerrygold butter). You won't regret it!
-dark chocolate chips
-unsalted European-style butter (it's creamier with more fat)
-powdered sugar (also called confectioners sugar)
-sea salt
-all-purpose flour
How to make chocolate shortbread:
So, before you make these, you should know: the dough can be crumbly, due to the melted chocolate in the dough. Use your warm hands to bring it back together and to seal any cracks that happen as you roll out the dough. The reason I make these cookies shaped like sticks is not just for dunking in tea or coffee, but because it's the easiest shape to roll out as many cookies as possible.
- First, preheat the oven to 300, which is a very low temp. These cookies bake low and slow. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
- Second, we're going to melt the chocolate chips at 50% power in the microwave. Start with 20 second intervals, and stir frequently. Remove the chocolate from the microwave before it melts completely, and then stir until it's smooth. Don't proceed with the recipe until all of the chocolate is smooth and shiny.
- Add the powdered sugar, salt, and flour, and stir until a dough forms.
- Lightly flour a counter, and use the warmth from your hands to form the dough into a flat disk. Then, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to a thickness of ½-inch.
- Use a pizza cutter to cut out 1-inch by 4-inch cookie sticks. Use a metal spatula (like this one) to delicately move the cookies to a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, and let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet so they firm up before eating.
More recipes for holiday cookies:
-Christmas Sugar Cookie Cut Outs
Chocolate Shortbread Sticks
Easy chocolate shortbread recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips (at least 60% cocoa)
- 6 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- ¾ cup flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F.
- In a medium microwave-safe bowl, add the chocolate chips and butter. Melt in the microwave in 20-second pulses, stirring between each pulse. It will take 3+ sessions to melt it.
- Take the chips and butter out of the microwave just before all the chips have melted, and stir it until they melted. Do not proceed unless the mixture is completely smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar and salt and continue to stir. Add the flour and stir until combined.
- Lightly flour a counter and pile the dough into a large disk. Press it flat into a disk before using a rolling pin to roll it out to ½" thickness. Use a pizza roller to cut out sticks of dough. Gently place them on the cookie sheet.
- Bake for 10 minutes. The dough will be fragrant. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on the sheet before serving.
Notes
This dough is super crumbly, but use the warmth of your hands to bring it together.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 174Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 93mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 1gSugar: 11gProtein: 2g
Tracy says
These look amazing! I love shortbread, so how can you go wrong adding chocolate? ;-)
Stefanie@ Sarcastic Cooking says
These are so cute. I want to dunk them in some gooey caramel sauce!!! Thank you for sharing even though you kinda didn't want to.
Lauren at Keep It Sweet says
Sometimes the best cookies come from the most pain in the a** doughs! I bet this is worth it:-)
Kimby | a little lunch says
I knew I was going to be in trouble the minute I laid eyes on your post title, Christina... simply awesome recipe. Even MORE awesome interview! I'll raise a "bubbly" toast to your success tonight. And next Tuesday. :)
Taylor says
Made these tonight and like you said it would be the dough was very crumbly...I used my hands to warm it and it came together. I ended up being able to roll it out once and had to throw away a small handful. I only wish I had sifted the powdered sugar before i added it to the chocolate mixture as it ended up having clumps of sugar I couldn't mix out...not a huge deal, just not as attractive or cohesive as it could have been. I baked them at 300 for about 14 minutes, until they smelled up the house and looked less "shiny." I also made sure to let them cool completely which helped keep them together. Overall the flavor was very chocolate-y and good, a little dry and rich for my taste, I think I prefer regular, super buttery/plain shortbread but these were worth it! :)
Sharon Schroeter says
These sound awesome ! Do you think I could slice them instead of rolling them out?
keep up the good work!
Janice R. says
I had to melt the chocolate and butter for 20, 20, 20, 5, 10 seconds or so to get it melted. I did not find the mixture at all crumbly. I patted it into an 8x8 pan lined with a strip of parchment paper. Then I placed a pecan half at each spot where I thought a cookie would end up when I cut the finished dough into sixteen squares after baking. I baked it for about 22 minutes. I let it cool for ten minutes then scored it into squares. A little later I lifted the whole thing out by the paper onto a flat surface and cut the squares apart.
DELICIOUS!