Holiday Chocolate Pecan Shortbread
Submitted by kerri_p
Chocolate pecan shortbread cookies, food-processor easy. Cocoa-rich shortbread pressed thin and topped with crystal sugar and ground pecans for crunch.
YIELD
36 servingsPREP
15 minCOOK
10 minREADY
60 minThese are chocolate shortbread cookies made the food-processor way: flour, cocoa, confectioners’ sugar, butter and vanilla pulse together in seconds, then get rolled, pressed flat with the bottom of a glass, and topped with crystal sugar and ground pecans before baking. Holiday-tin-worthy, dressed-up shortbread in 60 minutes total.
The flatten-with-a-glass technique is the recipe’s defining move. Pressing each ball down to ¼ inch thick before baking turns these from regular thick shortbreads into crispy, crackly, almost-cookie-like discs. The pressing also adheres the sugar and ground pecans to the surface, giving them texture and a crunchy lid.
Use crystal sugar (sometimes called sanding or pearl sugar) for the prettiest finish. The recipe calls it out specifically; granulated sugar works as a backup, but the larger crystals give a sparkle and crunch you can’t get from regular sugar.
Cocoa needs to be unsweetened. Dutch-processed cocoa gives a richer, less acidic chocolate; natural cocoa works but tastes sharper. Either way, the cocoa is what turns these from butter cookies into chocolate shortbread.
Cool on the baking sheet before serving. Hot chocolate shortbread is fragile and cracks when moved; cooled cookies firm up for clean handling.
These keep beautifully in a tin and ship well, making them a smart Christmas-cookie-tin option that doesn’t crumble in transit.
Pro Tips
- Use cold butter cubed into 2-tablespoon pieces. The food processor pulses it into the flour evenly; warm butter creates dough that’s hard to handle.
- Don’t overprocess. Stop the food processor as soon as the dough forms a ball on top of the blades. Overprocessing develops gluten and toughens the cookie.
- Ground pecans work better than chopped here. Fine pecan powder adheres to the cookie surface; chunks tend to fall off.
- Bake one sheet at a time for even browning. Multiple sheets in one oven mean uneven baking and cookies done at different rates.
Variations
- Sub ground walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts for the pecans for different nut flavors.
- Add 1 teaspoon of espresso powder to the dough for a deeper, mocha-toned chocolate flavor.
- Drizzle with melted white chocolate after cooling for festive striped decoration.
Ingredients
Directions
Flattening the cookies turns them nice and crispy and you can make them even crunchier by topping them with crystallized sugar rather than the granulated.
Preheat the oven to 350℉ (180℃).
Grease a baking sheet well.
Place the flour, cocoa, and confectioners’ sugar in a food processor.
Turn the machine on and slowly add the butter, 2 tablespoons/30 g/1 ounce at a time.
Add the vanilla and process until the dough forms a ball on top of the blades.
In the palms of your hands, roll the dough into circles about ½ inch/1 cm thick.
Place on the prepared baking sheet and press each circle of dough down with the bottom of a glass until it is about ¼ inch/0½ cm thick.
Sprinkle the dough with the granulated sugar and pecans and press again to flatten.
Bake the cookies until brown, about 10 minutes.
Cool them on the baking sheet before serving.
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