Salted Butter and Chocolate Chunk Shortbread
If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’ll know that I finally made the Salted Butter and Chocolate Chunk Shortbread cookies that everyone and their mother has been blogging about since the release of cooking virtuoso Alison Roman’s book, Dining In. And after all the hype, I was kind of thinking I’d be disappointed.
BUT I WASN’T.
I may have had the ingredients for three whole weeks and had ten million things to do before I could have a moment to bake, but you know what they say; good things come to those who wait. And these cookies can definitely be filed under “good things.”
They are rich. They are buttery. They are chocolatey and perfectly salted. And yet they remain delicate, satisfying, and completely different from a chocolate chip cookie. From the first bite, you’ll get an immediate hit of caramel from the demerara sugar rolled on the edges. As your teeth sink into the dense (but lovely) shortbread, you’ll taste notes of the sumptuous salted butter and the velvety chocolate. The cookie’s texture is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, which is the only way cookies should be, if you ask me.
And if those tasting notes weren’t enough to convince you to make them, let me just say that they are so easy to put together, require minimal ingredients, and there’s no cookie-forming since you slice and bake.
Pro tips:
Bake one of the logs (the recipe makes two) and freeze the second, unless you have a house full of people to feed.
If you don’t have demerara sugar on hand, just use brown sugar in its place.
These cookies get better the longer they sit. I had one right out of the oven and thought, “oh, they’re pretty good.” And then I had one out of the cookie jar a few hours later and finally got the “OMG, these cookies are life changing” feeling. Then I ate three more.
X
Salted Butter and Chocolate Chunk Shortbread
Adapted from Alison Roman
Prep Time: 10 minutes active time, plus two hours resting time
Cook Time: 12-15 minutes
Ingredients for the batter:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2¼ sticks) cold salted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
6 ounces semisweet or bittersweet dark chocolate, chopped
Ingredients before baking:
1 large egg, beaten to blend
Demerara sugar (for rolling), or brown sugar
Sea salt
Directions:
Using a stand mixer, beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla on medium-high speed until very light and fluffy, 3–5 minutes.
Scrape down the sides of bowl with a silicone spatula. With the mixer on low, slowly add flour. Once the flour is incorporated, add the chocolate chunks and beat just to combine.
Divide the dough in half. Place each half on a piece of plastic wrap. Then, one at a time, form the dough into a long. You can use the plastic wrap to help form the log so the heat from your bare hands doesn’t make the dough super sticky. then place each half on a large piece of plastic wrap. Each log should be about 2" in diameter. Don’t worry, they don’t need to be perfect! Chill until firm, about 2 hours. (Remember: I like to refrigerate one and freeze the only unless I’m going to a party!)
Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats. Beat the egg in a small bowl, then brush the outside of the log with the egg wash. Roll the log in demerara (or brown) sugar. Don’t skip this step! It really rounds out the cookie’s flavor.
Slice the log into ½"-thick rounds. If the dough starts to crumble, make sure it’s very cold, and try slicing the log a little thicker. You can always “smoosh” the dough back in place if a cookie comes apart. Place the cut cookies on your prepared baking sheets about 1" apart. Sprinkle with sea salt or kosher salt. Bake cookies until the edges begin to look golden brown, about 12–16 minutes. Let cool completely before eating.
