It’s holiday baking season and what’s Christmas without cookies? Good old St. Nick would probably have a thing or two to say about no cookies come Christmas Eve. This is one dreamy shortbread cookies recipe!
Shortbread is fairly common during the holidays and is my husband’s favourite cookie. My husband is still refusing to eat any other desserts currently as he claims these cookies were “the best I’ve ever eaten”.
Which is great, because that means more treats for me but I did feel a tiny bit sad about shipping almost all of these to the mid-west to a friend. Shortbread pairs perfectly with tea and if you’re into scotch I highly recommend a few shortbread cookies with a finger of scotch.
I love toffee in all baked goods. It becomes soft, almost gooey-like, and is a perfect complement to the salted chocolate. Milk chocolate would also work for dipping these cookies, but I love dark chocolate and find that it doesn’t add a ton of additional sweetness and pairs with flaky salt a bit better.
Don’t skimp on the dip. Shortbread is great, but it’s exceptional when dipped in chocolate and this shortbread cookies recipe is such a dream when dipped in dark chocolate.
This shortbread cookies recipe comes together brilliantly with the dark chocolate and toffee. That being said, the chocolate dip does not need to be done.
The flaky sea salt is fine to skip as well if you don’t have flaky sea salt or don’t feel like adding that portion.
More Christmas Cookies:
- Eggnog Madelines
- Triple Chocolate Meringue Cookies
- Chocolate Brownie Cookies
- Milk and Cookie Bars for Santa
What are your favourite seasonal cookies?
Classic shortbread cookies recipe upgraded with toffee pieces and dipped in dark chocolate with a sprinkling of flaky sea salt.
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 2 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ pieces
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup toffee (SKOR) pieces
- 6 oz. dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa), broken or cut into 1″ pieces
- 1 tsp flaky sea salt to sprinkle on chocolate optional
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Preheat oven to 350° F.
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Place flour, brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a food processor and blend briefly to combine. Place butter pieces and vanilla in the food processor and pulse until mixture resembles a fine meal. Add toffee pieces and briefly pulse until mixed through.
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Transfer the dough to a large piece of wax paper and top with another sheet of wax paper. The dough at this point is extremely crumbly. Fold the dough over onto itself 2-3 times in the wax paper so that the butter melts a bit and brings the dough together. Roll dough out until 1/4" thick*.
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Using a 2″ circular cookie cutter (or the shape of your choice) cut out as many cookies as possible. Transfer cookies to a baking sheet (lined with non-stick paper, but ungreased), spacing about 1″. Gather scraps together, preroll and cut out more cookies. Repeat until dough has been used up.
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Bake cookies until just starting to colour, about 8-15 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
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Once cookies are completely cooled, melt chocolate pieces in short bursts (20-30 seconds) in the microwave. Dip cooled cookies part way into the melted chocolate. Place on a wire rack and lightly sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
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Cookies will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
* I rolled the dough out, cut out cookies from the middle, less crumbly section and then rolled the rest back together to form the dough properly. I do this 3-5 times depending on how well the cookie dough comes together.
Be sure to check out all the cookies featured in this cookie exchange!
Wife Mama Foodie | Gluten Free Icebox Cookie
Now Forager | Vanilla Bean Marshmallow & Pink Peppercorn Shortbread Cookies
DisplacedHousewife | Chocolate Peppermint Crinkles
Tutti Dolci | Brown Butter Chai Snickerdoodles
The Daley Plate | Romany Creams
Fig & Bleu | Cornmeal & Cherry Shortbreads
Cloudy Kitchen | Anzac Biscuits
The Beach House Kitchen | Double Chocolate Peppermint Sugar Cookies
Vanilla and Bean | Cocoa Nibby Pecan Shortbread Cookies
Chez LaRae | White Rollout Cookies
Husbands That Cook | Apple Cider Snickerdoodles
Rainy Day Bites | Melody Cookies
Bakeritablog | Brown Butter Shortbreads With Dark Chocolate
The Jam Lab | Thandai Shortbread Cookies
Katie Clova | Espresso Caramel Thumbprint Cookies
Food Fashion Party | Stuffed Shortbread Cookies
My Kitchen Love | Chocolate Toffee Shortbread
No Crumbs Left | Peanut Butter Blossoms
Enjoy! xo
Ultimate Charcuterie Board & Homemade Sumac Pita Chips
Shortbread is my favorite cookie too — I actually can’t believe I’ve never made it!! Your chocolate dipped toffee version looks like pure heaven. Stunning pics as usual!!!
You’ve never made it?! I’m highly suspect of that 😉 I’ll try to make them for our next get together for you.
Well, truthfully, I did make them in school, but never on my own 🙂 And YAY! 😀
The only thing better than shortbread is chocolate dipped shortbread! 🙂 These look scrumptious!
Thanks so much Laura! This cookie exchange was so fun! Happy Holidays!
I agree with what Laura said!!! These looked so good from the minute I first saw them on Insta!! Toffee + chocolate…you had me!! xoxo
Thanks Becca!
Milk, tea, scotch … anything works! And I totally agree – chocolate dipped anything is great!
Perfect holiday cookies Samantha! I adore shortbread and add some toffee and dip in chocolate and I’m all in!
Yay! Glad I hit all right notes Mary Ann!!
You know I’m loving these Samantha! I love that their dipped and sprinkled! Delicious!
Thanks Traci – I really wanted to take them to the next level 😉 Cookie parties are the best!
Beautiful and delicious cookies! Loving all those toffee bits and chocolate dip. So good!
Thanks so much Teresa! Loved your marshmallow chocolate cookie!! That gold leaf!! Amazing.
Chocolate, toffee, and shortbread are a match made in heaven! These are such beautiful cookies – perfect for the cookie exchange 🙂
Thanks Rachel!! I had a ton of fun baking for the exchange. Happy Holidays!
I loveee that you added toffee to the shortbread AND dipped them in Chocolate AND added salt on top!! That is the ultimate delicious cookie! I will have to add them to my list to make! and you are so right. So many of us made shortbread, but in different ways all together ! such a fun party! 🙂 And very nice to know you. I look forward to following you and getting to know you 🙂
Aw, thanks! Yes, I’m so happy I got to know so many new people and share in the joy of baking for the festive season. Happy Holidays and I’m looking forward to seeing more of your posts too.
Mmm, I wish I could reach through the screen and grab one of these! Love shortbread cookies and the fact that you added toffee and dipped them in chocolate takes these up several notches! Can’t wait to give them a try!!
The whole virtual thing is the occasional drag isn’t it? Toffee and chocolate mean a lot to me, especially in cookie, so I left as though it would be a blunder if I didn’t somehow get them both into a cookie. Happy Holidays Joscelyn!
Those are beautiful cookies!
So cute! I think these would be great at my next cookie exchange as they hit all of the right notes!
These cookies are seriously beautiful!
Thanks so much!
I am not a big fan of plain old shortbread, but I love how well they lend themselves to all sorts of flavors! the dark chocolate and flaky sea salt, sounds smashing!!
That’s a great point – they are quite versatile. I’m very partial to adding toffee to them myself 🙂
On the cover page of Pinterest you list 2 cups of butter, but when you visit the page to make the recipe it states 1/2 cup. I’m sure the 1/2 cup measure is accurate, but double checking.
Hi Kim. The 1/2 cup is correct. It’s a very dry “dough”. Totally annoying .. I think Pinterest just pulled the incorrect info as I don’t fill in that information, it’s done automatically. Thanks for checking!
This looks cute! It’s simple yet elegant type of design, it also looks so good and delicious!
And super tasty! 🙂
Shortbread is one of my favorite cookies. I made these for my book club and everyone asked for the recipe. The bit of salt with the chocolate is such a nice touch.
What a good idea for a book club treat! Thanks for the note.