An absolute favourite for gifting and boxing in the festive season, these chocolate shortbread cookies are fun and easy to make with just a handful of ingredients and oh so delicious. Buttery and rich with the perfect tender yet crumbly texture, these chocolate shortbreads are made extra-beautiful by being dipped generously in melted chocolate and topped with gorgeous freeze-dried raspberries.

  • A crumbly yet melt-in-your-mouth texture.
  • The kind of cookie you want to eat with a cup of tea or coffee.
  • So buttery — a truly luxurious treat!
  • Made with just 5 ingredients.
  • So perfect for gift boxes.

These chocolate covered shortbread cookies, topped with those dried raspberry pieces, are such a wonderful, bitter, sweet, and tangy combo. You could use milk chocolate if you want them a little sweeter or you could try these chocolate sugar cookies that are just made for decorating.

One of the original posts on the blog, first published on July 16th, 2016, the original recipe was for a sandwich shortbread cookie. You can certainly still do that and there are options further down in the post.

A batch of chocolate shortbread cookies surrounded by freeze-dried raspberries.

Table of contents

Ingredients you’ll need

Ingredients for chocolate shortbread on a marble surface.

Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.

  • Unsalted Butter: I almost always prefer to use unsalted butter for baking recipes. You’ll need quite a bit for this recipe — butter is the base of it all, and is the reason why these cookies taste so rich and, well, buttery. Make sure it’s at room temperature or softened before you start.
  • Icing Sugar: Also called powdered sugar. I like using it instead of granulated sugar as it will give you a much smoother dough.
  • Flour: Plain flour (aka all-purpose flour) is perfectly fine for this chocolate shortbread recipe.
  • Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder: Make sure to use Dutch process cocoa powder here as it’s less bitter and a lot smoother than regular unsweetened cocoa powder.
  • Dark Chocolate: You’ll use this for dipping. I like bars with 50% cocoa best for chocolate coated shortbread cookies but you could use milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate – whichever takes your fancy.
  • Toppings: As mentioned, you can experiment with freeze-dried raspberries (as shown in the photos), as well as other fruit bits, nuts, or even sprinkles.

How to make chocolate shortbread (step-by-step)

Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.

1. Cream the butter and sugar

First, preheat your oven and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Next, in the bowl of stand mixer or in a mixing bowl using a hand mixer, add the butter and sugar and beat on medium until light and fluffy.

The creamed butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.

2. Dry ingredients

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl, then add them to the dough. Mix them through until you have a sticky dough.

The combined chocolate cookie dough in a mixing bowl.

3. Shape and chill

Shape the dough into a disk, then chill in the freezer, if you have room for 10 minutes.

The dough shaped into a disk.

Roll the dough out until its 5mm / ⅕ inch thick, then chill again for 10 minutes. This is a sticky dough so it really does need some time chilling. I like to sprinkle over a little cocoa once it’s rolled out to smooth out the top.

The dough rolled out.

4. Cut and bake

Cut out rounds from the rolled cookie dough, transfer to a lined baking sheet and bake for around 12 minutes. Let them cool and they’ll be perfectly crumbly all the way through.

Cutting circles of dough from the rolled out dough.
Circles of cookie dough on a baking sheet, ready to bake.

Dip: Once the cookies are cool, dip them in melted chocolate and decorate with your favourite toppings. Enjoy!

Tips and tricks

  • I recommend rolling out the dough between sheets of baking paper for less mess. As it’s quite a sticky dough, the paper may stick and leave little marks when you peel it away but you can just sprinkle over a little cocoa powder and rub it over to smooth it out.
  • A note on the raspberries: The added freeze-dried raspberries give an amazingly sweet and tart lift to the intense chocolate. If you’d like to experiment with other toppings, dried or freeze dried fruits are best. Try small pieces of dried oranges too.
  • Dark chocolate shortbread cookies make for great gifts because they keep so well. They also don’t spread much — making them quite uniform — meaning they package up very nicely.
A stack of 4 chocolate shortbreads.

Substitutions and variations for chocolate dipped shortbread cookies

  • Raspberries: As mentioned, you can use another type of freeze-dried fruit. You could also use regular dried fruit.
  • Nuts: Pistachios (like in these chocolate pistachio cookies) are a great option.
  • Sprinkles: I love the idea of updating these with colourful sprinkles for the holidays. Pink and red for Valentine’s Day, green and red for Christmas… there are plenty of options to choose from.
  • Chocolate: Dip your chocolate shortbread cookies in milk chocolate to sweeten them up a little, or white chocolate for a real contrast. You can even drizzle your chocolate of choice for a different look.
  • Sandwich the chocolate dipped shortbread cookies with a filling:

FAQs

What is the secret to making good shortbread cookies?

There are a few different things that go into making sure your chocolate shortbread cookie recipe comes out well every single time. The quality of your ingredients is very important — choose the best butter and cocoa powder you can find. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Finally, the chilling step is crucial. It helps the cookies keep their shape and gives the flavours the chance to develop.

What is the difference between a butter cookie and a shortbread cookie?

The key differences lie in the amount of ingredients used and how they are made. Butter cookies typically feature more sugar and are baked at higher temperatures. Shortbread cookies, like this chocolate shortbread cookies recipe, are made with more butter. Somewhat strangely, the latter actually boasts an even more buttery flavour than butter cookies.

Should butter be warm or cold for shortbread?

Use softened butter so that you can cream the butter and sugar together but make sure not to skip the chilling.

Two chocolate shortbread cookies stacked with more around them.

More recipes you’ll love

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Closeup of a stack of 4 shortbread cookies.

Chocolate Shortbread

Yield: 22 cookies
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
0 minutes
Total Time: 32 minutes
5 from 14 ratings
These easy, 5 ingredient chocolate shortbread cookies are rich, dramatic and totally luxurious. Using dark cocoa, these buttery chocolate cookies are dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with crushed freeze-dried raspberries.
Print Rate Pin

Ingredients

FOR THE CHOCOLATE SHORTBREAD

  • 115 g unsalted butter, softened (½ cup / 1 stick)
  • ½ cup icing sugar (powdered sugar) (70g/2 ½oz)
  • 130 g plain flour (all-purp flour) (1 cup / ~4 ½oz)
  • 2 tablespoons dutch processed cocoa powder (notes, 8 teaspoons )
  • Pinch of salt

TO DECORATE

  • 100 g dark chocolate (50%) melted, (½ cup)
  • Handful of freeze-dried raspberries, nuts or sprinkles

For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided

Equipment

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan forced) / 350F. Line 2 cookie trays with baking paper.
  • Whisk together the flour, cocoa and salt in a medium bowl to evenly distribute. Set aside. Beat the butter and sugar in a stand mixer or in a bowl with a handheld mixer until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed.
  • Add the dry ingredients and mix on the lowest setting until it forms a dough.
  • This is a sticky dough, so it's best to work in stages. Pull the dough together into a disk about 1 inch high and place in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to firm up a little.
    You can also roll it into a log in baking paper and chill until firm, then slice it to cut round cookies though they may have a flat edge if you do it this way.
  • Roll the cookie dough out between two sheets of baking paper to about 5mm thick (⅕ inch). As you do, it has a tendency to pucker up underneath so pull the paper away then press it down flat as needed. Once it's the right thickness, peel back the top piece of paper and dust over a little cocoa, then rub it over with your hand to smooth the top out. Chill in the freezer for a further 10 minutes.
  • Use cookie cutters to cut shapes out and transfer them to your prepared cookie trays
  • Bake for 12 minutes, turning trays halfway through cooking so they cook evenly.
  • Allow them to cool a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before dunking in melted chocolate and sprinkling with your choice of decoration.
  • Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.

Notes

  1. I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (= 4 teaspoons worldwide)
  2. For best results, you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
  3. All ovens vary – if you know your oven runs hotter than standard, take them out 2-3 minutes before the recipe suggest and allow them to cool to see if they crisp and cooked through.
  4. Store your cookies in an airtight container in a cool spot (like the pantry) for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for 2 months.
MORE COOKIE RECIPES!
Calories: 98kcal
Author: Marie Roffey
Course: Afternoon Tea, Dessert, Snack, Sweets
Cuisine: American, English
Have you tried this recipe?Don’t forget to leave a rating and comment below and let me know how it was! I love hearing from you. Nutrition information is approximate and derived from an online calculator. The brands you use may cause variations.
Nutrition Facts
Chocolate Shortbread
Amount Per Serving (20 g)
Calories 98 Calories from Fat 54
% Daily Value*
Fat 6g9%
Saturated Fat 4g25%
Trans Fat 0.2g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2g
Monounsaturated Fat 2g
Cholesterol 11mg4%
Sodium 2mg0%
Potassium 47mg1%
Carbohydrates 10g3%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 4g4%
Protein 1g2%
Vitamin A 132IU3%
Calcium 6mg1%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.