Chocolate chip shortbread cookies are the perfect companion for a warm cup of coffee or cold glass of milk. These cookies are buttery, tender, and filled with rich chocolate chips. All you need are five ingredients to get started!
Recipe summary
Flavor/texture: Shortbread cookies are tender, dense, delicate, and buttery. This recipe is filled with mini chocolate chips!
Made with five ingredients: Flour, butter, sugar, salt, and chocolate chips.
Yield: 20 cookies
Similar to: Mint Chocolate Shortbread Cookies, Strawberry Shortbread Cookies, Iced Lime Shortbread Cookies
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Ingredients and substitutions
- Butter - Unsalted butter and the listed salt can be substituted with salted butter if desired.
- Mini chocolate chips - Can be omitted for a traditional shortbread cookie, or replaced with another flavor of baking chips or sprinkles. I recommend mini chips since we're rolling out the dough and regular sized chips are a bit big for a rolled dough.
- Confectioner's sugar - Can be substituted with granulated sugar. For ¾ cup of confectioner's sugar, use ½ cup of granulated sugar.
How to make chocolate chip shortbread cookies
- Add butter and sugar to a large bowl and use a hand mixer to cream together until fluffy and smooth.
- Whisk dry ingredients and add to butter mixture, mixing until just combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Press dough into a large disc and wrap in wax paper or parchment. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Roll dough out into a large, ¼ inch thick circle.
- Use a knife to slice into rectangles or use various cookie cutter shapes.
- Place in a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake until cookies look set in the center and the edges barely begin to brown.
Heather's Top Tip
For accurate results every time, use a kitchen scale to measure flour by weight. If you don't have a kitchen scale, use the spoon and level method. Stir the flour (especially if it's been packed down in a bag/container), then gently spoon into the measuring cup, leveling off the top with a knife. Scooping with a measuring cup compacts flour into the cup and adds up to 25% extra to the recipe, resulting in dry, bland cookies that don't spread properly.
Tips and tricks
Dough texture - Shortbread cookie dough will look a little different than your regular chocolate chip cookie dough. Your dough may look a little crumbly at first, but holds together when pinched between two fingers.
Use confectioner's sugar - I updated this recipe in 2021 and now recommend using confectioner's sugar instead of granulated sugar. Readers were continually having issues with the dough looking dry and crumbly and not holding its shape after baking. While I have not been able to replicate this issue, I found that confectioner's sugar was easier to work with and the dough held together more readily than when using granulated sugar. After the switch, readers have had greater success with the recipe.
Dough looking crumbly? It sounds like too much flour was added to the dough. Add 1 tablespoon of milk and stir to incorporate. Add more milk as needed until the dough comes back together.
Use parchment paper - Greased cookie sheets cause your cookies to spread more than they should while baking. Instead, use a sheet of parchment paper or a reusable silicone baking mat.
Frequently asked questions
Shortbread cookie dough will look slightly crumbly after mixing, but should hold together when pinched between two fingers. If your dough is so crumbly and dry that it doesn't hold together, it sounds like too much flour was added. Add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time to your dough until it comes back together.
Shortbread cookies may spread in the oven if the dough is too warm. If your dough has been out of the refrigerator and feels warm, return it to the refrigerator to chill and firm up again. Dough can also spread if you've greased your baking sheet instead of using parchment paper. For this recipe (and most cookie recipes), I recommend using parchment instead of greasing your baking sheet.
Recommended
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup (85 g) confectioner's sugar
- 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour, measured properly *
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (133 g) mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add butter and sugar. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat until light and fluffy, about a minute.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix with a hand mixer until ingredients are fully incorporated. Your dough will be thick and crumbly, but holds its shape when pinched between two fingers.
- Add mini chocolate chips and mix to incorporate.
- Shape dough into a disc and wrap in wax paper or parchment. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350℉ and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Dust counter top and rolling pin with flour, then roll dough to ¼" thickness. Use a sharp knife to slice off the rounded edges, then slice dough into rectangles (or use cookie cutters). Place onto prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart.
- Bake for about 13-15 minutes, or until cookies look set on top and barely begin to brown around edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the baking sheet. Shortbread cookies are very delicate straight from the oven and need time to cool and firm up.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- *Measuring flour properly: Either measure flour by weight using a kitchen scale (this is what I do and recommend), or stir and fluff your flour, then gently spoon into a measuring cup and level off with a knife. Scooping into a bin with the measuring cup compacts the flour and adds up to 25% extra flour, making your dough very dry and crumbly.
- Dough look dry and crumbly? It sounds like too much flour was added. Add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time to your dough and stir until dough comes together.
- Can I use granulated sugar? Yes, confectioner's sugar can be substituted with granulated sugar. Substitute ¾ cup of confectioner's sugar with ½ cup of granulated sugar.
- Storing cookies: Cookies will keep for 5-7 days in a sealed container. To help keep cookies fresh, place a slice of bread in the container with the cookies. Replace the bread slice as needed.
- Storing dough: Raw dough will keep in the refrigerator for 3 days. If dough has been refrigerated for more than 30 minutes, allow to warm up at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before rolling out.
- Freezing: Cookie dough and baked cookies can be frozen up to 3 months.
- More tips: Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking cookies, based on reader comments and questions!
These are soooooooo good! They are " I just can't stop eating them"good!
buttery, crunchy, delicious 😋
Sweet just enough.
Definitely a keeper, a perfect recipe!
These were SO GOOD. These biscuits are dangerous - I ate so many in one sitting. It's really addictive. I already feel like making another batch. They taste much better after having cooled down completely, as the recipe states. And even though my dough didn't really turn out crumbly, it still worked really well.
These were amazing! I made them gluten free just by using 1-to-1 GF flour and they turned out perfect. Such a simple recipe and even the dough tastes sooo good!!
Do i have to use mini chips ? Can i use regular semi sweet chips ?
Regular chocolate chips can work, but might make it more difficult to roll the dough into a thin layer. Your cookies may have to be a little thicker so they don't fall apart from the bigger chips.
Can you make this more keto friendly with almond flour and swerve confectionery sugar?
I'm not at all familiar with keto baking, so I would not be a great resource for this information. I'd highly recommend searching for a keto friendly shortbread cookie recipe, instead of trying to substitute ingredients to make this recipe work. Here's a few that look promising!:
https://kirbiecravings.com/4-ingredient-keto-shortbread-cookies/
https://nosugarnoflourrecipes.com/sugar-free-chocolate-chip-shortbread-cookies/
Are these cookies soft or crunchy, I like a lightly crunchy cookie, like a sugar cookie consistency, 😊
Hi Tammy, shortbread cookies are dense (they have no leavening agents to make them puff up in the oven) and turn out tender and delicate once baked. They're not crunchy, but have a soft, tender, and buttery texture.
I had to google grams from cups and the mix seemed crumbly. But I did the fridge once on the tray, I spaced mine out, just as well they did grow a bit. Wow so tasty! We will definitely make these again! Trust the process x
I'm so glad you enjoyed the cookies! If you click on 'metric' in the recipe card (directly below the ingredients list) it will show you all of the ingredients in grams, for the future.
*edit* you can now see both measurements side by side in the recipe card!
This is not an easy recipe but it's worth it. The dough is very crumbly but I was able to make it work. They are soooo good. Definitely worth the effort and I'm sure practice will make it easier!
Delicious but not sure why my mixture was never crumbly... it was very soft and not crumbly at all!
I just made these and they're so so good! I had to add some oil while kneading because the dough was way too crumbly for me to work with. But they turned out great!!
i love this recipe and also lemon shortbrade cookies ☺only i know this recipe in turkey thats why im lucky 😅
Gorgeous!
Can you use a butter substitute? My husband can’t have dairy.
I haven't tested this recipe with a butter substitute so I can't say for sure. I'd take a look at this recipe which uses a vegan butter, it may work for you!
https://www.noracooks.com/vegan-shortbread-cookies/
These buttery cookies are amazing!!!!