Buttery, Chocolatey and melt in your mouth soft whipped Chocolate Shortbread Cookies are a must bake this Holiday Season! And the best part? You don't need to chill these for hours before baking!!
Try my Vanilla flavored Whipped Shortbread Recipe next and thank you all for giving it so much love!
If you love chocolate flavored cookies, these readers' fave Double Chocolate Cookies are a must try! Find all Christmas Cookies at one place on the blog.
Ingredients and substitutions:
Butter: Make sure to begin making the dough with room temperature dough. Any vegan butter can also be substituted for regular butter here if desired.
Sugar: We will use confectioners' sugar, also known as powdered sugar here. Don't sub it with granulated sugar. Powdered sugar mixes better with butter to produce softer cookies, than granulated sugar does.
Flour: We are using all purpose flour here, but any gluten free flour can easily be substituted to make these cookies.
Corn flour: Also called as cornstarch. It will make your cookies super soft and tender. So do not skip or replace this with any other ingredients.
Cocoa Powder: I have used dutch processed cocoa powder here as I like its taste better in chocolate cookies. However you can easily replace it with natural unsweetened cocoa. The taste in the latter case would be different if you take that route.
Coffee: Now this is totally an optional ingredient, but adding coffee to chocolate dough will only enhance its chocolate flavor. You won't taste any coffee in the final product.
How do you make these cookies:
Firstly we will begin with whipping room temperature butter and confectioners' sugar. Whip them up for good 4-5 minutes. You can use a hand beater for this step if you prefer. I use a hand mixer.
Next, we will add in all the dry ingredients. Make sure to sift them particularly if cocoa, flour and cornstarch have any lumps in them.
These dry ingredients will get mixed in by beating them for 2-3 minutes. We will also add in flavorings like coffee and vanilla at this stage. Once everything is combined well, you will scoop cookie dough balls out of it.
These scooped cookie dough balls can be baked as is, or you can quickly freeze them for 10-15 minutes or till they are very firm to touch.
We will then roll them in between palms into a round ball and then flatten them slightly.
Bake in a preheated oven till done.
Tips for perfect Cookies:
Room temperature everything!!!
I know this sounds repetitive, but room temperature ingredients bake up the best cookies or anything for that matter. Lets say if the butter is too cold it won't mix well with sugar. And if butter is too soft it can lead to excessive cookie spreading.
Don't end up overbaking Cookies:
This is practically the best and the only way to make sure that you don't end up with dry cookies. Cookies continue to set even when they are removed from oven for a few minutes. Always remember that they are still kind of baking, as they set.
So only bake till you see that the cookies are puffy and have just start to set around the edges. Or go by the recipe timing and start keeping an eye on them 2-3 minutes prior to the time recipe mentions.
That way your cookies will never have dried up when you open the oven door, to check on your cookies for the first time.
I prefer parchment paper over silicone mats:
Silicone mats or silpats are too slippery to touch and when they come in contact with your cookies, they tend to spread quite a lot more. So opt for parchment paper sheets when baking cookies with a lot of butter.
Coating and Flavor Options:
Both coffee and spices go well with chocolate. If for some reason you don't want to add coffee to your cookies, try adding about a teaspoon of this spice mix (cinnamon + ginger + nutmeg+ allspice + a pinch of cloves).
If you like a textured contrast in your cookies, coat them in crunchy sugar. Or you can also coat them in chocolate sprinkles.
A coating of finely chopped nuts like pistachios or walnuts would be so good too.
You can also drizzle melted chocolate over baked and cooled cookies.
If you liked this recipe, please give it a star review! Also, tell me in the comments below, how did it turn out for you! How did your family or guests like it?
How did you personalize it? And don’t forget to share your wonderful creations with me on Instagram at #greedyeatsblog Let's be friends on Pinterest and Facebook too!
Recipe
Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
Equipment
- 1 Hand/stand Mixer
- 1 Cookie scoop
- Cookie trays
- Parchment Paper Sheets
Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter (unsalted, at room temperature)
- ½ cup Confectioners' Sugar
- ⅙ teaspoon Salt
- 2 teaspoons Pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon Instant Coffee (optional, but only enhances coffee flavor)
- 1 and ¼ cups All purpose flour
- ¼ cup Cocoa powder (I used dutch processed)
- ¼ cup Cornstarch
- 2 Tablespoons Non-pareil sprinkles
Instructions
- Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.
- In a large mixing bowl using a hand/stand mixer on medium high speed, beat butter and confectioners' sugar for 3-4 minutes. Don't skimp on this beating time for light textured cookies. Add salt, vanilla and coffee now (if adding) and give it a whirl too.
- Once the butter and sugar mixture gets light and fluffy, add in sifted flour, cocoa and cornstarch in the bowl and beat only till everything combines well.
- Scoop into equal sized cookie balls using a cookie scoop. Place cookie dough balls on the pre-lined baking trays or on a large plate (coated with little cocoa powder) to avoid the dough balls from sticking to the plate.
- Chill the dough balls quickly in the freezer for 5-10 minutes or till they are very firm to touch. Roll each ball between your palms to give it a round shape. Place on cookie tray, 2 inches apart. Repeat for all dough balls.
- Next press them slightly on the cookie tray and inscribe their tops with a cocoa powder dipped fork to create striped pattern. Then top with non-pareil sprinkles. Press them in slightly too to make sure that they stick.
- Let the cookie dough balls chill in the freezer once again till you preheat the oven. When ready to bake preheat oven at 325℉ (160℃) and bake cookies for 13-15 minutes. Or till their tops look set. Allow to cool on the baking tray.
Fransic verso
Yummy recipe, I would love to try these cookies with my partner for new recipes this holiday. Love that these chocolate shortbread cookies are not so complicated to make.
Kristine
YUM! These look fantastic, I’m adding them to my Xmas cookie list.
Tara
On my list! These are so pretty they’ll look great in my cookie boxes this year. Thank for another delicious one!