Buttery Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

This Homemade Chocolate Shortbread is a buttery, rich cookie with a chocolate flavor that melts in your mouth! They're wonderfully tasty, simple to bake, and a sure winner for your holiday cookie list!

Why This Recipe Stands Out

This homemade chocolate shortbread recipe is among the simplest cookies you'll ever bake!

Inspired by the classic Ted Lasso style biscuit, I made these with my Ankarsrum Assistent Original Mixer (Forest Green color) and its 7-litre stainless steel bowl. This bowl is great for big batches of dough, since it can handle 1.5 litres of dough liquid and 5 kilograms of dough with no trouble.

You'll adore this chocolate shortbread for its intensely buttery, chocolatey flavor and its light, crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth texture. It's a perfect treat any time of year, or a sweet gift for friends and family during the holidays!

If you like this recipe, don't miss my Strawberry Shortbread Cookies, Lemon Shortbread Cookies, and Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies!

What You'll Need

You'll need the following ingredients to make these homemade chocolate shortbread cookies. The items in the bulleted list are the key ingredients that need a little more explanation.

• Unsalted Butter. Choose whichever unsalted butter you like, but I suggest a high-fat brand (82%-85% butterfat). I used Kerrygold, though Plugrá, Minerva, Cabot, Vermont Creamery, or Vital Farms are good options too.
• Powdered Sugar. This gives the chocolate shortbread a pleasantly tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
• Dutch Process Cocoa Powder. I used Ghirardelli, but go with whatever you have on hand. It provides the deep chocolate flavor of these shortbread biscuits. Unsweetened cocoa powder can also be used as a 1:1 swap.
• Vanilla Extract. Vanilla bean paste works too. It's more concentrated in flavor, and some people suggest using less when substituting, but I still use a 1:1 ratio.
• Baking Powder. Classic shortbread has no leavening, but this recipe does. It gives the chocolate shortbread a slight lift, so it's a little less dense.

The quantities and full instructions are in the recipe card below.

How to Make It

Here's a quick overview of how to make these chocolate shortbread biscuits. For the complete printable recipe, which can be made with US customary or metric measurements, see the recipe card below.

Helpful Tip: If you're using your Ankarsrum Assistent Original Mixer, you'll need the 7-litre stainless steel bowl, dough knife, and dough roller for this recipe.

Step 1. Whisk the dry ingredients, except the powdered sugar. This includes the all-purpose flour, Dutch process cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.

Step 2. Beat the room temperature softened butter for 2-3 minutes. Start the mixer on low speed, then move up to medium-high. Add the vanilla extract and beat for 1 more minute.

Step 3. Add the powdered sugar. Begin on low speed so the powdered sugar doesn't fly everywhere, then switch to medium-high. Beat until thoroughly blended.

Step 4. Add the whisked dry ingredients. Again, start on low speed, then increase to medium-high. Beat just until the dough forms small to large clumps.

Helpful Tip: Prep your 8-inch square baking tin by lightly greasing it with butter or a flour-based baking spray, such as Baker's Joy. I also suggest lining the tin with parchment paper so the shortbread is easy to remove and slice.

Step 5. Move the dough into the prepared 8-inch square baking tin. Press it in with a spatula, your clean hands, or food prep gloves. Then lay a sheet of wax paper over the dough and smooth it level with the bottom of a measuring cup.

Step 6. Dock or prick the shortbread dough with a fork. This lets steam escape during baking and keeps the shortbread from becoming too puffy or dense. It's normal for the dots to partly fade in the oven.

Step 7. Bake the chocolate shortbread. Bake for 45-50 minutes at 300ºF, or until the edges turn a light golden brown. Take it out of the oven and let it cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes.

Step 8. Take the shortbread out of the tin, then slice. Slicing it after it has cooled briefly gives you neater pieces than waiting until it's fully cool, when the biscuits are more crumbly.

Ways to Serve

Here are a few ways to enjoy these homemade chocolate shortbread cookies.

• Dipped in melted chocolate. Melt any good-quality dark chocolate in a double boiler or a microwave-safe bowl, then dip the ends or bottoms of the shortbread into it. Set them on wax or parchment paper to cool.
• Sprinkled with flaky sea salt. Right after the shortbread comes out of the oven, sprinkle the tops with flaky sea salt. I recommend Malden's. Don't use regular table salt or coarse salt.
• Sprinkled with chocolate-hazelnut finishing sugar. McCormick makes a really good one! It's a holiday item, so it may not always be easy to find.
• Rolled out with a cookie cutter. If you'd like a rolled-out, cookie-cutter version, try my Strawberry Shortbread Cookies!
• Cookie scoop. For a simpler approach, use a cookie scoop or a spoon, the same way I did for my Lemon Shortbread Cookies and Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies.

Tips for Making Shortbread

Here are some useful tips if this is your first time making shortbread.

• Use a metal baking tin. I suggest a metal tin for this recipe, since it gives the shortbread a crispier edge. A square metal tin also gives the shortbread its classic, clean, straight lines. You can also use tins made specifically for shortbread, which have decorative patterns or designs. Nordic Ware makes some really cool ones!
• Don't overmix the dough. Whether you mix by hand or with a mixer, stop once the dough has just come together. I liked using the Ankarsrum Assistent Original Mixer with its 7-litre stainless steel bowl, dough roller, and dough knife for this shortbread, because it mimics the feel of mixing by hand instead of using a mixer with whisk attachments. The downside was that scraping the dough roller was a bit of a hassle, and I occasionally had to move the dough roller and dough knife to keep the dough circulating around the bowl.
• Use wax paper to smooth and level the shortbread dough. This was the only method I found that gives the shortbread a nice, even top without creating a huge mess.
• Dock the shortbread. This lets steam escape during baking and keeps the shortbread from becoming too puffy or heavy. It's normal for the dots to somewhat fade while baking.
• Slice while it's still warm. This is the opposite of what you'd do with cakes or brownies! Slicing the shortbread while it's warm gives cleaner cuts, while waiting until it's fully cool can cause cracks and crumbly edges. I'll mention that even when I sliced mine warm, I still got some crumbs and cracks, so don't worry if that happens to you!

Frequently Asked Questions

What size baking tin should I use for this shortbread recipe?

You'll need a metal (preferred) 8-inch square baking tin.

Can I use unsweetened cocoa powder instead of dutch process cocoa powder?

Yes, you can use unsweetened cocoa powder in place of Dutch process cocoa powder. It's a 1:1 swap.

Can I use granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar?

I didn't test this recipe with granulated sugar, but you can certainly use it in place of powdered sugar. You can also blend granulated sugar with light brown sugar, as I've done in my other shortbread recipes.

Should chocolate shortbread be chilled before baking?

Chilling this chocolate shortbread is optional, since I didn't notice a major difference during testing. If you'd like to chill the dough, do it after pressing it into the baking tin and pricking it with a fork. Refrigerate it for 30 minutes. I don't recommend chilling the dough if you're using a glass baking dish.

How many slices of shortbread fit into a 1/2 pound biscuit box?

The biscuit boxes I used (5.5″ x 2.75″ x 1.75″) hold eight slices of chocolate shortbread snugly. When I sliced the shortbread, I cut it into 18 pieces (3 x 6).

If you tried this Chocolate Shortbread Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a star rating and share your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!