Chocolate Shortbread Cookies are my absolute favorite Christmas Cookie! The flavor is rich and chocolatey and the cookies are so fun and festive!
Happy December! I know I’m a day late in wishing you that…I had every intention of posting these lil Chocolate Shortbread Cookies yesterday morning, but my TiVo was so full of great shows from being away for two weeks that I couldn’t stop watching TV Sunday night. And then promptly fell asleep at 9pm because of JetLag. So, cookies had to wait until today 🙂
Literally the second we got home from our trip, I was ready for Christmas baking! I was up early Saturday morning and my mind immediately went to my favorite Christmas cookie – Chocolate Shortbread Cookies. I am so excited to share this recipe with you today!
I have always had a huge sweet tooth. Maybe that’s why I have always loved Christmas so much – there are tons of goodies around this time of year, specifically tons of Christmas cookies. I love all types of cookies, but if I had to pick one favorite, I would pick these Chocolate Shortbread Cookies. The recipe comes from my aunt – you might remember her from this post. She wrote an amazing cookbook called Almonds
She always makes these Chocolate Shortbread Cookies around Christmas, and growing up they were always my favorite. Â I couldn’t stop eating them!
The dough is really easy to make – just mix together softened butter with powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, flour, and cocoa powder. That’s it!
I guess the “hardest” part of these cookies is rolling out the dough and cutting out the cookies. Here are my tips for roll-out cookies.
1) First, chill the dough. Once the dough is all mixed up, give it a few kneads so that it is perfectly smooth. Form the dough into a ball and then flatten into a thick disc. Wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. The dough will last up to 48 hours, so you can easily make this ahead of time! Let the dough sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes before you roll it out.
2) Roll out the dough between parchment paper. I actually like to place the dough on a large silicone mat, and place a piece of parchment on top of the dough. This way, you don’t have to add any additional flour to the dough, and it won’t stick to your rolling pin or your rolling surface.
3) Chill the rolled dough before cutting out the cookies. I like to pop it in the freezer for about 10 minutes. This makes it so easy to cut out the cookies.
4) Chill the cut cookies before baking them. As you can tell by now, cold dough is your friend when making cut-out cookies. Chilling the cut cookies before baking helps them retain their shape in the oven
The chocolate shortbread cookies taste delicious and look cute on their own, so if you don’t have time to decorate them it is not a problem at all! I decorated about half of mine, and just left the other half plain. If you want to add sprinkles, add them after step 3 above. They will stick well in the slightly warm dough.
I’m so happy that I could share my favorite Christmas cookie with you to kick off December! What is your favorite Christmas cookie? I’d love to try some of your favorites!
Chocolate Shortbread Cookies are my absolute favorite Christmas Cookie! The flavor is rich and chocolatey and the cookies are so fun and festive!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until soft and smooth. Add vanilla, sugar, and salt and beat until well incorporated and smooth. On low speed, add the flour and cocoa and mix until the dough just comes together. Turn dough out onto a silicone mat or parchment paper and knead a few times until smooth. Form dough into a ball and flatten into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour, or up to 48 hours.
- Place dough on a silicone mat and place a large piece of parchment on top of dough. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough (under the parchment) about 1/4 inch thick. Chill the rolled dough for about 10 minutes in the freezer. Using cookie cutter(s) of your choice, cut out cookies and place 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. If desired, decorate with sprinkles, pressing them lightly into the dough so they stick. Refrigerate cut cookies for 20 minutes before baking (or freeze for 5-10 minutes)
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Bake cookies for 13 - 16 minutes, until slightly firm to the touch. Cool cookies on sheet for a few minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Recipe from Barbara Bryant
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More Christmas Cookies!
Each year, everyone gathers and we make about 20 different cookies, shortbread cookies are close to the top.
What a fun tradition, Lori!
I love shortbread cookies and these chocolate ones look amazing!!
Thanks, Sheena!
Oh I just love these!!
Aw, thanks Jocelyn!!
Looks a lot like what’s been going on in my kitchen lately!! Love these Cate!
Thanks, Beth! I love this time of year in the kitchen!
Chocolate shortbread? Yes please. (maybe covered in some white chocolate and peppermint too….)
Graham that is a great idea – these would be perfect dipped in white chocolate and covered with peppermint!
These are so cute!
Thanks, Annie!
Chocolate AND shortbread? The perfect cookie marriage!
Thanks, Melanie!
Hope you had amazing travels! These look great…I’ve never had a chocolate shortbread!!
Thanks, Jennifer! We had a great trip!
I just love these! Simple, cute and tasty. Thanks!
Thanks, Ginny!
1-these cookies are SOOO cute!
2-LOVE how dark and chocolatey they are
Thanks Kayle!! I used King Arthur Flour’s cocoa powder – it is so deep and rich!
These are so adorable!! I love that you decorated them solely with sprinkles and colored sugars (as opposed to piping icing, which I never have the attention span to do for a whole batch of cookies). I can certainly see why these are your favorite Christmas cookie variety!
Thank you so much! I love the flavor of these without icing, so I decided to just do sprinkles!
Cate, these cookies are sooooooo incredibly cute! I adore any uber-buttery cookie so I know that I’m going to love these. I’m definitely adding them to my holiday baking list.
Thanks, Nancy! Uber-buttery cookies are the BEST!
These are so fun and cute!!!
Thanks, Amanda!
Cate, these are just the cutest little cookies! And I have never had chocolate shortbread before. It sounds amazing! And girl, sometimes Tivo just has to trump everything else going on. I totally understand! 🙂
Thanks, Ashlyn! I’m so glad you understand the strong pull of TiVo 🙂
They look sooo adorable! I love chocolate shortbread cookies.. have to try yours. 🙂
Thanks, Claudia!
I love these cookies, Cate! I’ve never had a chocolate shortbread cookie before so I’m loving this! And these are so adorable, too. What a fun cookie for the holiday season! Pinned!
Thanks, Gayle!! And thanks for pinning 🙂
These are adorable! : ) Happy Holidays to you and happy baking!
I used to make a chocolate cut-out cookie but haven’t in too long. I love how you’ve done them up for Christmas. Makes me smile. : )
Thanks, Monica! Happy Holidays to you as well and so glad I could make you smile 🙂
OK…these are CRAZY CUTE! I especially love all the gingerbread men lined up! making me want cookies!
Thank you so much, Susan!!
These are perfect! I think chocolate and shortbread should always be paired. Such cute decorating!