Shortbread cookies is one of the favorite cookies that I like to bake quite often because it uses very little ingredients and is very easy to bake. Not to forget the amazing taste and texture. It just uses butter, flour and sugar and optional add-ons. No leavening agent like baking powder and/or baking soda.
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The cookies get a rich buttery flavor and have a crispy texture. To make chocolate shortbread cookies the only additional ingredient is unsweetened cocoa powder.
Expert Tips
If you want to bake vanilla flavored shortbread cookies you can try one the following recipes: Cranberry shortbread cookies or pistachio shortbread cookies.
If you are looking for an easy chocolate shortbread cookie recipe then you are in the right place. This recipe for eggless chocolate shortbread cookies is from a Martha Stewart book. I think it's called "Cookies".
I noted it long time back so don't remember it. These are basic beginner's level cookies. These chocolate shortbread cookies have a crumbly texture with a buttery smell and taste. I wanted to bake a big batch of cookies and a simple recipe. So this chocolate shortbread cookie recipe fits the bill. The yield mentioned in the recipe was 3 dozen but I got 5 dozen chocolate shortbread cookies.
I would say that this the best chocolate shortbread recipe. To make it even better you may also add chopped walnuts to the cookie dough. These chocolate shortbread cookies are perfect for Christmas cookie swap because it makes a huge batch and also a wonderful Valentine's Day treat. What are you waiting for? Now that you have the recipe for chocolate shortbread cookies, get baking already!
Recipe
Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- ¼ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder + little more for dusting
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter or 2 sticks at room temperature
- ¾ cup Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract optional
Instructions
- In a medium bowl sift together flour, cocoa and salt.
- In a large bowl add the butter and beat on medium speed for 5 minutes until fluffy.
- Add sugar and beat about 2 minutes, until very light in color and fluffy, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add vanilla if using.
- Add the flour mixture and combine on low speed, until flour is just incorporated and dough sticks together when squeezed with fingers.
- Form dough into a flattened disk; wrap in plastic. Chill until firm, at least 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 325F for 15 minutes. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. I greased it lightly with the butter wrapper itself.
- Use a spoon to form the dough into balls and place on the prepared baking sheet. I chilled it for 2 hours and the dough became so hard I was not able to scoop the dough. I had to pinch the dough and roll it in between my palms.
- Bake until firm, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating halfway through (that is, moving the baking sheet in the top row to the bottom row and the vice versa) My cookies were ready around 23 minutes.
- Cool completely on a wire rack. Dust with cocoa powder just before serving. (I didn't do this)
My Notes
Nutrition
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Aishwarya says
I tried these out and turned out great! I did add a tsp of baking powder... My one year old son enjoyed it! 🙂
Madhuram says
Thanks Aishwarya.
Vaidehi says
i tried them it came out to be really well....thanks a lot much appreciated
hey could you please tell me where can i get the egg replacement thing that you use? that would be of great help
thanks 🙂
Madhuram says
Thanks VAidehi. Where do you live?
lathadevan says
can u convert the butter measurement into grams and cup?
Madhuram says
Check this page: http://www.egglesscooking.com/baking-101/baking-measurements/
Emma says
I think I left them a little too long in the oven...
But they are still tender in the middle...
Excellent with the Ricardo cream cheese frosting over it!
Great combination!
charlotte says
I have made a very similar recipe only with powdered sugar. They were a little to crumbly. Goes using granulated suger make them more firm?
Madhuram says
I have used powdered sugar too in this Cranberry Shortbread Cookies and it turned out great. I think the cookies tend to crumble when you use a lot of fat. Did you get the right amount of butter?
palaash says
just wanted to know that the sugar in the recipe is powder or granulated ?
Madhuram says
It's granulated white sugar
sagunya says
They are the best! I am a school girl in 8th grade and I tried it alone at home these lovely beauties came out just perfect.
Madhuram says
Thanks for the feedback, Sagunya. It's great that you are trying your hands on baking at this age.
Michelle says
Hi, are these cookies suitable to be cut out using cookie cutters (eg. butterfly cookie cutter)? Will cookies hold its shape whilst baking?
Madhuram says
I think it should work Michelle. To be sure why don't you test bake about 5 cookies in different shapes and see if it works or not.
Brandi says
I tried the recipe as written (well, almost...I don't have a hand mixer so I had to beat everything by hand) and the results were delicious! I had a serious chocolate craving and did not have any eggs or chocolate chips for my regular go-to recipe. My oven may run hot, but I only baked my batch for 14 minutes. Very good!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Madhuram says
You're welcome Brandi and thanks for rating the recipe.
Anu says
I tried this recipe and it came out well. All of us enjoyed it. I just wanted to share it with you and thank you for sharing all your recipes.
Heather says
I tweaked this a bit adding coconut extract and shredded coconut to the batter. They were super yummy!
Madhuram says
Thanks Heather.
Alex says
Hi,
I tried the recipe tonight. I didn't have cocoa powder, but did have some hot chocolate mix and some chocolate chips. I melted the chips in a double boiler (bittersweet 60% cocoa) and mixed the powder in with the flour, and then mixed it all together. They came out light and delicious, a little sugary, I'm tempted to add crushed almonds or macadamia nuts to these. Thanks again!
Madhuram says
You're welcome Alex. Crushed nuts does sound like a wonderful idea! Can you rate the recipe?
Tara says
These came together quickly and baked up quite yummy. Nice simple cookie that tastes great with a cup of milk or tea. Another winner!
Madhuram says
Thanks Tara. I guess you are on a baking spree!
Tara says
It is Communion/Christening/Graduation season so I am filling my freezer! I am on the poundcake next!
Madhuram says
That's great Tara. When you try the poundcake, try part tofu and part yogurt, like one of the readers had baked.
thomas says
it worked great
anup says
Hi, I love your recipe very much. Need to more cookie recipes.
priyanka says
my cookies melted all over the baking tray....i dont know what the reason can be 🙁
Priya Srinivasan says
Hello Madhuji,
I tried this recipe last week in my impressing my in-laws series 😎 , it came out fabulous!!!!! My MIL has actually packed a dozen to India too. 😛
Not only this, she asked me to bake ur Apple raisin muffins and Dates Cake too. Baked a Batch especially for her.
Thanks a Ton for sharing these recipes!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You have made my day Priya. Thank you so much for trying the recipes and taking the time to record your comments here. The dates cake is a hit with my mil too. She too has asked me to bake it for her when she leaves for India next week. Thanks to Shilpa for such a wonderful recipe.
Laura Foley says
Thanks for the great recipe! I found out last night at 7:00 that I had been invited to a cookie swap the next day, and I didn't have any eggs in the house. This was the perfect recipe. The bake time, though, seems way too long. I'm afraid the cookies will come out like rocks after 25 minutes! On the MS Web site a similar recipe calls for a bake time of 12-15 minutes, which is what I'm going to try.
Do let me know after you try it Laura.
Disorichu says
Hi, I love ur website and ur recipes. I tried out the banana nut bread and it came out fabulous. I had one question regarding all purpose flour. Some say that all purpose flour and maida are different. But the thing sold in indian stores reads all purpose flour(maida) whereas the one in american grocery stores read just all purpose flour. The cookies baked using that come out hard. I need your advice in this field.
Thanks for trying the recipe Disorichu. As far as I know maida and all purpose flour are one and the same. But that said, I have not baked with maida bought from Indian stores. I usually buy it from American grocery stores and have been baking with that only without any problem. Cookies get hard if it's baked more than the required time, or sometimes if the flour is mixed too much which makes it very glutenous and thus hard.
Anusha says
I'm totally new this space, what is all-purpose flour? Also, I just have a basic Microwave oven. Will I be able to make some cookies?
Anusha, all purpose flour is nothing but maida. I have not baked in microwave oven, but have seen some recipes. So google and see.
Nilambara says
60 cookies? really?
Yes, small size ones. About the size of a quarter.
Ranjita says
Hi Madhuram, I was looking for eggless baking recipes since a very long time. I tried your chocolate cake which came out excellent. This is my first bake and I became crazy for baking. I tried your Eggless Shortbread Cookies but these came out hard. The first batch I followed exactly what was told but the second batch I removed 5min early. Still they came out hard but tasted wonderful. I dont know if I was doing something wrong. Please help me if possible.
Ranjita, thanks for trying the recipes. Cookies become hard because of two reasons 1) Adding more flour than required or 2) Overmixing the batter after adding the flour. I think you could have done the 2nd. To soften the cookies, take an air tight container or a ziploc bag. Place the cookies in the bag and also 2 slices of fresh bread and close the bag. Leave it for 24 hours and your cookies should have softened. I have not tried this but have read in a lot of baking sources.
M says
Hi
I just tried this recipe and I only got 30 small cookies. Not nearly close to 60. Also, they're not very sweet - just cocoa-ey. I actually prefer them that way but I can see that some people might expect more chocolate-y flavour. I'm taking them to work tomorrow for a baby shower potluck lunch so I hope they're well received! Super easy recipe. Thanks for sharing.
In response to the question above about too many cookies, when I bake cookies I usually take them to work and they don't last more than an hour. I also like to freeze some for "emergencies" like when I get invited to someone's house at the last minute.
M
Thanks for trying it M. My cookies were the size of a quarter, so I guess I got lot more cookies. I recently tried the freezing method and it's such a neat idea.
roma says
Bookmarked this recipe. I have been wanting to make cookies too and this recipe sounds simple. The shape is really round and perfect.
Akal says
they look perfect!
Cynthia says
Nice!
Vaishali says
I meant Earth Balance vegan "butter" sticks. I guess I'm thinking too much about my url! 🙂
Sometimes I get confused too!
Vaishali says
Love anything chocolate, and chocolate shortbread must be incredibly delicious. I gotta try it with the Earth Vegan "butter" sticks.
RedChillies says
Easy recipe and the cookies/shortbread look yummy.
I have a side question though, hope you dont mind. I have this perpetual question when I decide to bake. "What do you I with so many cookies?" Like your family, my husband is health conscious too and will not eat them. The little one will not eat as well. I love anything sweet, but try to resist them thanks to my bulging waist line 🙂 But then seriously, how do you use the 5 dozen cookies that you got from this recipe?
Actually RC, that's one thing which definitely stops me from trying more recipes. For this particular one I wanted to give it to some of my relatives, that's why I baked it in the first place. Other times, I give it to my desi neighbors. There are 4 families here. Even I'm slowly reducing the frequency of my baking experiments, since I'm also trying to lose weight.
Asha says
Just replied to your comment at FH and I forgot to answer about Trisha's car! Came here as soon as I remembered.
Yes, we bought her a car more than a year ago when she got her temp license at 16 and next Monday, we are going back to get her permanent driver's license. She already had a accident but minor, nobody got hurt but the car.
She can't take it to Chapel Hill but Tushar will start learning in about 6 mnts in High school. They give 2 weeks of Driver's ed and 6hrs of free driving on the road in HS, then we are on our own to practice, very stressful time for parents! 😀
You can see the car here;
http://foodieshope.blogspot.com/2007/08/shahi-bell-peppers-and-shahi-almond.html
sampada says
sounds delicious..i love cookies with not much of ingredients.
suparna says
Hi Madhuram,
I am a digger for easy recipes 😆 lovely looking stuff madhuram 🙂 ur recipe presentation is so simple and easy to follow...cool pics as always!
TC
chitra says
beginners like me can sure give a try,thanks for posting it,very neat explanation:)
9to5to9 says
Did someone send out a news alert on National Shortbread Week? Or is it just a case of great minds thinking alike? I tried shortbread for the first time tonight, and I think I'm in love. I took the easy route, though, just plopping it in a pan. I'm definitely going to have to try this recipe, though, some week when there's not a full moon that's turned my kids into werewolves.
You have to give me a tutorial on how to get more cookies out of a recipe than it calls for. If I break even I'm happy. I console myself, though, by knowing that I'm at least ahead of my ancestors. My grandmother used to scoop cookie dough with a coffee cup.
Pavithra Kodical says
Anything with chocolate makes me drool..Yummy and delicious.
DivyA Vikram says
They look perfectly baked and shaped Madhu. I loved the stuffed idli recipe too.
Sweatha says
I too love shortbread cookies.Love it Madhu,looks divine.I too had made them once.:P
Will shortly send my vinegar entry.
Sharon F says
Um Madhuram,
These look great. I think I remember the recipe as well. Martha did them plain, with chocolate and also with currants as well. Looked as divine as yours did. Can I please become your personal taste tester?? lol
I would be more than glad to have a lot of taste testers.
Uma says
Lovely cookies. Looks mouth-watering.
Dhanya says
Looks yummy and delicious. Good one Madhuram.
Cilantro says
Looks crunchy and nice. I have try the cookies/shortbread with milk. My daughter says it is a great combo.
Soma says
cute cute cookies. my kids would love these.
mahimaa says
wow.. cookies look too cute and yummy madhu. simple to make and less ingredients too. if u have any butter-less recipe, let me know madhu. i will interested in trying.
Cham says
Very simple but delicous as usual 😀
SS says
Milk and cookies a perfect recipe for a good nite's sleep 🙂
Priya says
Gorgeous chocolate goodies...sounds so easy n prefect for chocoholic like me..
A&N says
I do not care. As long as there is chocolate. Who cares what the name is 😀
Asha says
So simple with few ingredients and they look so delicious, kids would love those! 🙂
You have to have leavening to send it to BBD, so this one can't go but you must have loads of quick bread in the archives.
Anoop did not do well y'day, it's very hard to sing like MJ anyway! 😀
jayasree says
Cookies/shortbread..it looks yummy. Sounds easy to make also.
You can send it to BBD#short bread hosted by Manasi.
I thought it was quickbread, will check it out.