Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

Did you have a good Christmas? I did. By strategic planning and a little bit of luck, I've had the last 8 days off of work and I still have 2 more days off. Lots of time spent hanging out with the fam and today, a lot of time with my couch.

I don't usually like shortbread cookies, but I love chocolate so when I saw these in my Facebook feed, I wanted to give them a try. It is a quick recipe and the chocolate flavor is really rich, which I like. They rolled out beautifully and the dough was easy to work with, which is always a bonus for me. I hate dealing with sticky/messy dough. I made these cookies with a friend before Christmas, so we used holiday shapes, but you can cut them into whatever shapes you want. We cheated and used cream cheese frosting from a can for decorating.

Those are glass slipper sprinkles.

My friends adorable daughter. She was our helper/ taste tester. 

Source: Smitten Foodie
Makes: Around 2 dozen cookies, but it'll depend on the size of your cookie cutters

Ingredients
2 sticks (1/2 lb) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup Hershy’s Special Dark cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 scant teaspoon kosher salt (scant means not quite a full measurement, so a little less than 1 tsp)

Directions

In a stand mixer, cream the softened butter with the paddle attachment until smooth. 

Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. 

Add in the vanilla and mix. 

Slowly add in the cocoa. Mix and scrape down the sides of the bowl, as needed. 

Add salt and mix. 

Slowly add the flour and mix until incorporated. Take care to not over mix.

Put half of the dough on a piece of parchment paper. (If needed, flour the parchment paper. Mine didn't need it.) Lay another piece of parchment on top.  Use a rolling pin to flatten evenly to 1/4 inch thick.  I had to use my trusty vodka bottle. But guess what? I got a pretty rolling pin for Christmas so I can retire the bottle. Rotate the paper as you roll to make it easier.  

Repeat these same steps with the other half of the dough using two new sheets of parchment paper.  

Place both chunks of rolled out dough, still inside of the parchment paper, on a baking sheet and pop in the fridge for 1 hour. I let mine chill overnight but you can keep in the fridge for up to 3 days or wrap in plastic and keep in freezer for 1 month. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line your cookie sheets with silicone mats. 

Cut the cookies with whatever cookie cutters you like (we used holiday shapes) & spread apart evenly on the prepared cookie sheets. 

If your dough got warm while you were cutting them out, stick the cookie sheets in the fridge for up to a half hour to firm up. Ours stayed cool enough that we skipped this step. 

 

Bake cookies for 14 min, rotating pans halfway through.  Let sit on baking sheets 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.  

Let cool completely before decorating.