Dark Chocolate & Toasted Butter Pecan Shortbread Cookies

These eggless buttery cookies literally melt in your mouth with each bite.

Shortbread dough is pretty easy to make, honestly. This eggless and no oil recipe has only 4 ingredients for a buttery soft shortbread crust, which is all made in one bowl. It is then baked for about 30 minutes, cut into smaller pieces, & dipped into melted dark chocolate (or drizzled on). Lastly, we'll finish it off with a sprinkling of toasted butter pecans.

For me, the most fun part (besides dipping them in chocolate & adding the pecans) is cutting the shortbread after its baked. Shortbread dough is one of the only bakes that need to be handled when warm. So, after baking, you have to work quick (and carefully) to cut the shortbread into pieces before it cools. It is so satisfying LOL you'll see what I mean. Enjoy 🤎

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Dark Chocolate & Toasted Butter Pecan Shortbread Cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

Shortbread Crust

16 tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 cup confectioner's sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

Dark Chocolate Sauce

1 cup dark chocolate chips

1/4 cup caster sugar

Toasted Butter Pecan

1 cup pecans

1 tbsp dark brown sugar

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 and grease 2 9 inch pans. In a large bowl, add in butter and beat for 3-4 minutes till it is creamy. This is the most important step to get a buttery crust. Once creamed, add in sugar and vanilla extract. Once combined, add in all purpose flour, about 1/2 cup at a time. The dough will be crumbly, but keep mixing and kneading throughout. Add in 1/4 tsp of water at a time to bring the dough together.

2. Divide the dough evenly in half. Place it on the pan and press it down to evenly spread it all across the bottom. Bake for 30-35 minutes till a crust forms and is golden in color.

3. After baked, work quickly with a pizza cutter or knife & cut the dough into 8ths so that there are smaller triangles. Let this cool completely before dipping into the chocolate.

4. While the shortbread is cooling, make the toasted butter pecans. In a bowl, add brown sugar, vanilla extract and 1/8 tsp of water till mixed. Then, in a small pot over medium heat, add butter and melt. Once warm, add the pecans and toast for about 3 minutes. Once the pecans are golden and fragrant, add the sugar mixture and sauté for 20 seconds and take off the heat immediately. Cool completely, then transfer to a mortar and pestle to grind into fine pieces.

5. While the pecans are cooling, make your dark chocolate sauce. To a small pot over low-medium heat, add dark chocolate chips with sugar and keep mixing till the chocolate has mixed and sugar dissolved.

6. To assemble the shortbread, take the cookie and dip it into the dark chocolate then add the toasted butter pecans as garnish. For another cookie variation, take a spoon and drizzle the dark chocolate then add the pecans. Let everything set for about 20 minutes so the chocolate hardens a bit and the pecans are stuck to the chocolate.

* Shortbread base adapted from King Arthur Flour.