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Rich Chocolate Shortbread Cookies have a secret — olive oil + butter! — and a super-satisfying crunch from coarse sugar on top. This is the grown-up cookie you want.
This post is sponsored by Divine Chocolate, which provided product samples for recipe development. All opinions are my own.
I’m on a bit of a shortbread kick….well, probably for my whole life, but who is counting? It’s just such an easy cookie to make, with a big flavor payoff. Flour, sugar, butter….that’s basically it. I often add an extract or some other flavoring, because I like to tweak recipes like that, but it’s basically a simple recipe.
This Chocolate Shortbread version is enriched with high-quality cocoa, and has a mixture of butter and light-flavored olive oil, for the best of both worlds. I’m a big fan of baking with olive oil. I keep two kinds in the pantry — an extra-light flavored version to bake with, and a full-bodied version for the skillet.
How to make Chocolate Shortbread
It’s easy! Flour, sugar, some kind of fat…shortbread is a breeze.
- Assemble your ingredients, as with any recipe. This is a good practice to get into.
- Mix up the dough. I do it with an electric mixer (I’m lazy that way), but you could do it by hand of course.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then pat or roll out and poke with a fork.
- Sprinkle with coarse sugar crystals.
- Lay it on!
- Baked and out of the oven.
- Cut while warm. I used the edge of a spatula to cut them so I don’t slice my silicone baking mat.
About the cocoa
I used cocoa from Divine Chocolate, one of the sponsors of #Choctoberfest. Divine Chocolate’s baking line is
- non-GMO
- Vegan Society-certified
- Fairtrade
- 100% pure cocoa butter
- without soy or palm oil
- the only Fairtrade chocolate company in the world that is co-owned by cocoa farmers — a cooperative in Ghana co-owns the company, and gets the largest shares of the business.
- I feel good about using their chocolate in my baking, and it is 100% shockinglydelicious! The cocoa smells rich and deeply chocolaty, and their chocolate baking bars have a rich consistency and utterly delicious flavor. I’m sold.
Let’s make Chocolate Shortbread Cookies!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 cup extra light-flavor olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4. 5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened premium dark cocoa (I used Divine Chocolate Cocoa)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Garnish: Coarse sugar crystals for sprinkling on top
Directions
- Turn oven to 325F degrees. Place a silicone mat or parchment paper on a baking sheet and set aside.
- Place sugar, butter, olive oil and vanilla in a bowl, and mix well. I use an electric mixer to do this, but you may do it by hand.
- Stir in flour, cocoa and salt.
- Remove from bowl, pat into a square, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Remove from refrigerator and place dough onto the prepared cookie sheet. Press dough into an 8 x 5-inch rectangle, about 3/4-inch thick. Poke top surface with a fork. Sprinkle top liberally with coarse sugar. Bake for 30 minutes. Dough will be set.
- Remove from oven, allow the pan to cool for about 10 minutes, and then cut with a spatula into 24 pieces. Allow to cool completely.
- Makes 24 cookies.
Notes
Recipe source: Lightly adapted from Cooking Light, Nov. 2008
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Welcome to my kitchen, where the oven is always on, and the fridge is packed with delectables! 
These would be so hard to resist!
Toni,
They are, I can attest.
I haven’t made shortbread cookies in ages, but I love that they don’t take a billion ingredients to make! :] These look super tasty!
Farrah,
I totally agree. You pretty much always have the ingredients for shortbread, in the pantry.
I have never heard of chocolate shortbread before… I am actually giddy with excitement to try this!
Alisa,
Bonus: they are so easy, too!
These chocolatey cookies look so fun and tasty!
These look sooooooo good! I love that you used olive oil too – that’s one of the things I add sometimes when baking since it’s so dry up here at Tahoe!
Love how sparkly these chocolatey cookies are!
My kids will demolish these bad boys!
Love those coarse sugar crystals on top! So delicious!
Taylor,
It’s a little extra crunch and make a big difference!
Looks like a delicious recipe that will be quick and easy around the holidays when I want to make a lot of different kinds of cookies.
Allison,
Exactly right!
I’ve never tried to make my own shortbread, it looks so easy!
Annie,
One of the easiest cookies to make!
Choctoberfest, lol, I love it!! Plan on celebrating all month long starting with these cookies. Yum!
Demeter,
Best. Made-up. Week. Ever!
Shortbread is my favorite Dorothy. It feels like I haven’t seen you in a while. Hope all is well.
Wendy!
I adore shortbread. So simple, so good.