Espresso Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies are small but mighty cookies that pack a big punch ~ they’re a must for chocolate and coffee lovers, for sure.
When my husband walked into the kitchen while these espresso chocolate chip shortbread cookies were baking and asked ‘who’s roasting coffee?’ I knew I had a winner. So good!
You know how I feel about coffee. And I’m sure I’ve made it clear how I feel about chocolate. And since it’s getting to be that time of year again when cookies come in pretty handy, I’m combining the two into one of my favorite forms: shortbread. Espresso chocolate chip shortbread cookies are an adult cookie with an irresistible combo of flavors. They fit in beautifully with my growing collection of shortbread recipes.
Espresso chocolate chip shortbread cookies are based on my classic shortbread dough recipe which can be formed into a log and sliced and baked, or easily rolled out for cutting with cookie cutters. Rolling out the dough turns out slightly more uniform cookies, but either method works great.
What do I do? I roll out the dough and cut my cookies, then gather the scraps and rolled them into a small log to freeze for later! That way I get the best of both worlds.
Tips for making espresso chocolate chip shortbread cookies
- I like to make my shortbread dough in a stand mixer. It’s easy and mess free. But if you don’t have one you can use electric beaters, or do it by hand. If you do it by hand the best way to get the soft butter incorporated into your dry ingredients is literally with your hands. Rub the butter and flour together until it becomes evenly moist, crumbly, and holds together when pressed between your fingers.
- Soft butter is important, it helps the dough come together. Got cold butter? Check out my post on how to get ingredients to room temperature in a jiffy!
- Hydrate! The key to making shortbread dough is to take enough time for the butter and flour to come together completely. It might seem dry at first, but the moisture in the butter will eventually hydrate the dough.
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Espresso Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies
Equipment
- baking sheets
- parchment paper
- 2" cookie cutter
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter, softened
- 1 Tbsp instant espresso powder, use 1 1/2 tsp for a lighter coffee flavor
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Put the soft butter and espresso powder in your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream them together until well combined. Let sit for 10-15 minutes to allow the powder to dissolve into the butter.
- Add the sugar and vanilla to the bowl and blend, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
- With the mixer on low add the flour and let it go until the flour moistens and starts to form a crumbly dough. Add in the chocolate chips and continue mixing until large lumps form and there is no dry flour left. Scrape down the bowl well.
- Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and bring the dough together with your hands. Form a smooth flat disk.
- I like to sprinkle the top with a bit of flour and lay a piece of parchment over top before I roll out the dough to about 1/3 inch thick. Roll from the center outwards, constantly shifting the dough to make sure it isn't sticking.
- Cut out your cookies with a 2" cookie cutter and place 1 inch apart on your cookie sheets.
- I like to pop my cookies in the freezer for about 10 minutes before baking so they hold their shape really well.
- Bake for about 12-14 minutes, depending on the thickness of your slices. I like to bake one tray at a time. When done the cookies will be just slightly golden, but still pale, and should not look wet or shiny. These cookies are very forgiving ~ shorter baking time results in a softer cookie while longer baking creates a crisp shortbread.
- Cool on the pan for a couple of minutes and then transfer to a rack. The cookies will be softer when warm but will firm up as they cool.
- The cookies will keep up to a week at room temperature and can be frozen for up to 6 months.
Notes
- Your butter was not soft to begin with.
- You measured too much flour. (Fluff the flour to loosen it, spoon or scoop it into your measuring cup, then level it off with a knife for an accurate measurement, or use a scale.)
- You did not mix the dough long enough to get everything hydrated.
Nutrition
shortbread cookies rock!
Dough is chilling right now. Can hardly wait to try them and share with friends tonight.
Thanks for the recipe!
i love the whole slice-and-bake cookie idea, and chocolate with espresso is never, ever wrong. 🙂
I’m always on the lookout for a good cookie recipe and I think I’ve just found one of the best! What an excellent idea and combo of flavours. Ive used the roll method before to great effect so this is a great idea. Can’t wait to get baking, for the smell alone this should be worth it!!
So, is espresso powder different from regular ground espresso? I use a pretty nice espresso each morning for my coffee and it is powdery… it’s definitely not an instant coffee though. Oh, you just gave me all kinds of great ideas!
I have had exactly ZERO luck with gluten free shortbreads that taste anything like shortbread should taste. I’m not defeated, but I am once again motivated to figure it out! These sound heavenly.
No, it’s different, although you could experiment with using your fine ground espresso, sounds interesting!
Adult cookies–yes, please! These sound so good. I might even go the double coffee route and eat them with a latte. 🙂
I still haven’t made your peanut butter chocolate chip shortbread cookies that looked incredible, and now these look just as good! I’ll have to try them both soon, I love shortbread!
Shortbread texture, coffee flavor and chocolate? This sounds like a winner, Sue! I can’t wait to try them.
An adult cookie with the question of Who’s roasting coffee at the other end of it…YES. These sound perfect and those slices off the log…well, it would be hard for me to actually want to bake those slices and not just taste-test the dough 🙂
You’ve hit on another great thing about this cookie—you can eat the raw dough if you want, no eggs!
Cookies rarely get better than this. These sound wonderful and your recipe is spot on. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings…Mary
I feel left out that I still have not tried espresso powder! Love shortbread and this is so creative. I bet they just melt in your mouth. Congratulations on another great recipe.
Tricia, espresso powder is the coolest thing, it’s not at all like instant coffee, it has a really fine texture and it instantly melts into whatever it’s blended into. In this case, the cookie dough contains hardly any liquid, so the little specks of espresso remain, which I like. If you blended the espresso powder into the milk or half and half, however, it would probably give a different effect. I’ll have to try that next time.