Chocolate Chip Shortbread

I’ve lost count of how many of these buttery, chocolate filled cookies I’ve eaten in the last week. Even though I’ve made my shortbread recipe a bajillion times, it was still important to do plenty of testing to get these juuuuust right and chocolate makes everything better right?, I’m guessing you agree, since you’ve found yourself here.

Want more amazing short bread recipes? Try this Dark Chocolate Shortbread or my Vanilla Passionfruit Shortbread

What is shortbread?

Traditional Scottish shortbread is a mix of just 3 ingredients – flour, sugar, butter. It’s rich, it’s buttery and it’s crumbly and perfect alongside a cuppa.

A classic shortbread will often include rice flour too – like my Spiced Christmas Shortbread or Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread. It adds an extra crispness to the baked cookie.

A slight twist on the classic shortbread are things like melting moments which include cornflour (cornstarch). While still incredibly buttery and crumbly, they have more of a melty texture as opposed to crumbly.

Melty Chocolatised Scottish Shortbread

I took my regular Scottish shortbread recipe and added a touch of cornflour and dark chocolate.

• Cornflour (cornstarch): as mentioned above, it gives a more melt in your mouth texture and the softer crumble works so well with the chocolate.
• Chocolate: I used finely chopped 70% chocolate (Lindt) to be exact. If you prefer, you can freeze the chocolate first, then pulse it in a food processor or blender to chop it into tiny chunks or you could just use mini chocolate chips if you can get them.
• Sugar: Use granulated or caster (superfine) but definitely do not use powdered sugar. It’s not technically shortbread if you do and more like a melting moment instead. Powdered can also make the cookies drier so it’s best only to use it where a recipe specifies it.

There are only a few ingredients in shortbread aka nowhere to hide, so use good quality ingredients (especially the butter and chocolate) for the best results.

How to make chocolate chip shortbread

No cookie could be simpler than this.

1. Beat together butter and sugar until lightened and creamy.
2. Whisk the flour and cornflour together first, then add that to the butter mixture and mix to combine.
3. Add the chocolate and mix through
4. Roll the dough out and cut it into shapes
5. Chill then bake

Do I have to chill shortbread dough?

No, you don’t need to chill the dough but it will help to decrease any spread of the cookies as they bake.

How long to bake shortbread

In my recipe, I state 12-14 minutes. As with any baked recipe this will depend on a few factors:

• Cookie thickness: I like these cookies chunky so I make them about 12mm thick (~1/2 inch). If you make them thinner, they’ll cook quicker or thicker and they’ll take longer.
• Your oven: So important! Everyones oven varies. Thermostats are often out of whack and some ovens don’t circulate the air as well as others. Only you know your oven so use the recipe time as a guideline and keep an eye on the cookies to judge for yourself. The finished cookie should be pale (only the bottom should be golden) and once cooled it should be dry all the way through and crumble in your mouth.

Variations

• Add ins: while traditional shortbread has no add ins, it is the perfect vessel for them so try nuts, dried fruits, choc chips. Go wild and create something really unique – dried mango and white chocolate for instance would be amazing.
• Rice flour: for an even crisper texture, swap the corn flour for rice flour

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So, if you’re looking for something simple to bake right now and something perfect for relaxing with a nice hot cup of joe then this super easy Chocolate Chip Shortbread will tick all the boxes. It also makes a nice gift if you feel like dropping off a treat to friends or family.

More shortbread recipes

• Dark Chocolate Shortbread
  
• Vanilla Passionfruit Shortbread
  
• Spiced Christmas Shortbread
  
• Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread
• Melting Moments with Raspberry Buttercream
  
• Traditional Lemon Melting Moments