Delicious Buttery Shortbread Cookies with Chocolate Chips

Four ingredients melt-in-your-mouth delicious shortbread cookies with dark chocolate chips are the ultimate recipe to make with ingredients you most probably have already in your pantry. They take very little to be prepared, under 15 minutes to bake and can be amended to taste and celebration [hello Christmas sprinkles!], and no matter the day or time you eat them, chocolate chip shortbread cookies always feel like a real treat!

Jump to:

• Shortbread Cookies Ingredients
• How To Make Shortbread Cookies?
• People Also Ask [FAQs]
• Tips & Tricks For The Best Shortbread Cookie Recipe
• 15 Ways To Customize Your Shortbread Cookies
• Recipe

Shortbread cookies are many people's favorite, and it's not hard to guess why.

Crumbly, buttery, and not overly sweet, this cookie recipe is a classic that can be prepared in very little time and personalized as desired.

In this shortbread cookie recipe, I will be adding dark chocolate chips, however, you can swap this for other great flavorings, such as dry fruits, spices, and nuts... but I have a list of delicious ideas below, to make these little delights 100% your own.

Let's get baking!

Shortbread Cookies Ingredients

• Sugar: There are disputes over the type of sugar that should be used however, trust me on this one, go for granulated sugar the first time you try it and you won't have it any other way.
• Butter: Unsalted butter, if you find European-style butter, which is higher in butterfat content, then use that one.
• All-Purpose Flour
• Chocolate Chips: The type you prefer; in the recipe and pictures you see below, I used dark chips.

How To Make Shortbread Cookies?

1. Preheat the fan oven to 325F [150C FAN, 170*C static, Gas 3).
2. Dice room-temperature unsalted butter and mix it with sugar and flour; once you obtain big crumbs of dough add the choc chips and continue knitting until you obtain a uniform mixture. The heat from your hands will help soften the butter further and mix the ingredients.

3. At this point create a sausage with the dough by rolling it slowly on the countertop; as the dough is crumbly, do this gently and slowly.
4. Roll the sausage in a piece of clingfilm and refrigerate for twenty to thirty minutes.

5. Remove the raw dough from the fridge and the clingfilm, slice in 20 portions, and bake for 12-15 minutes, on the middle shelf of the oven.
6. Once the bottom browns, remove them from the oven and allow the shortbread cookies to cool down on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, before moving them to a cooling wire rack.
7. Serve and enjoy on their own, or with any hot drink of choice!

People Also Ask [FAQs]

Tips & Tricks For The Best Shortbread Cookie Recipe

• Room temperature: It is very important that the butter is allowed to reach room temp naturally before preparing the dough. Allowing it to sit on the kitchen counter for at least an hour before use will do the trick most times.
• Refrigerate: Make shortbread cookies cooler before baking! This will make the raw dough spread less.
• Do not overbake: These cookies cook very quickly and are ready as soon as their bottom starts to brown. Just out of the oven they will be soft but will harden and give that beautiful crumbly consistency as soon as they cool down.
• Cool down: As the cookies are soft when hot, allow them to cool down on the baking tray for five minutes, before moving them to a cooling rack.
• Stand mixer: You can begin mixing the ingredients in a stand mixer however the dough will really come together once you start shaping it with your hands, as their heat will allow the fat of the butter to further melt and mix with the other ingredients.
• Parchment paper: As this shortbread cookies recipe has a very high-fat content, baking sheets of any kind will work, as they will not stick.
• Shaping the cookies: To make all the cookies the same size and to use 100% of the mixture, I tend to prepare the biscuits following the method described, however, these can be also shaped using other techniques, such as:
  • Rolling pin and cookie cutter: Roll the dough until it is ¼ to ⅓ inch thick, and cut using a cutter.
  • One big cookie: Spread the raw shortbread dough on a baking tray until it is ¼ to ⅓ inch thick, bake, and cut as soon as out of the oven [while still hot]. Allow the cookies to cool down before separating them.
  • Whipped shortbread cookies: Prepare the dough in a stand mixer using room-temperature butter. In the last couple of minutes, increase the speed of the mixer so that the mixture ends up looking like whipped cream. Using a spoon, place the whipped dough on the parchment paper and bake till the bottom starts to brown.

15 Ways To Customize Your Shortbread Cookies

Don't want or have choco chips? Skip the ingredient, prepare the basic recipe [butter, sugar, and flour], and add any of the following for a twist:

1. Extracts, Flavorings, Essences: Vanilla extract, almond, coconut, maple syrup, coffee, rum, honey, lemon, or orange all work wonders!
2. Lemon Shortbread Cookies: Add some citrus zest to the mix - lemon, lime, or orange all taste great.
3. Go Nuts: Walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios, mixed nuts.
4. Spice it up: cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice mix, matcha powder, nutmeg [perfect for the holiday season!].
5. dip: melt and dip them in some melted chocolate.
6. Jam Sandwich: Put some chocolate or jam between two cookies.
7. Sprinkles: on top or in the mix before baking.  
8. Sugar: Sprinkle some granulated sugar on top before baking.
9. Colorful and Elegant: Decorate with royal icing.
10. Classic: Pick the top with a fork to create a decorative pattern.
11. Bold Chips: Use different kinds of chocolate chips, such as milk or white, or use peanut butter or toffee drops. 
12. Chocolate Shortbread: Add 2 tablespoon of cocoa powder to the dough and remove the same amount of flour.
13. Fruity: Add dry or candied fruit chopped in small pieces to the raw mixture.
14. Salted Butter: Follow the simple recipe but use salted butter instead of unsalted one. The sweet/salty contrast is delicious and often used for this kind of recipe.
15. Powdered Sugar: It gives a lighter, less dense biscuit, so it may be less crumbly. If going this way, use 25% more powdered sugar than granulated, as this is less dense.

This simple shortbread cookie recipe is what dreams are made of. How is it even possible that the most delicious type of cookie only requires three [3!!] ingredients to start?

I truly hope you love this recipe as much as we do, and if you try this version or any amendment, please let me know in the below comments - we'd love to hear from you!

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