Food & Cooking Recipes Dessert & Treats Recipes Cookie Recipes Brown-Sugar Chocolate-Chunk Shortbread 5.0 (1) This easy recipe makes two logs of dough, so you can bake one now and freeze the other for later. Close Credit: Justin Walker Prep Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 20 mins Total Time: 2 hrs 40 mins Servings: 32 Jump to recipe Our brown-sugar shortbread is a buttery, slice-and-bake recipe that's as easy as it is delicious. The secret to the tender, rich dough is a blend of two sugars—brown for a caramel note and confectioners' for a melt-in-your-mouth texture. Studded with semisweet chocolate chunks, it produces a tender shortbread cookie that makes an ideal accompaniment to coffee, tea, or milk. The buttery dough comes together in less than 20 minutes with the help of an electric mixer. Even better, this recipe makes two logs, so you can bake one now and stash the other in the freezer for later. 19 Delicious and Impressive Recipes for Your Next Cookie Swap Shortbread vs. Other Cookie Doughs What sets shortbread apart from other cookie doughs is both its high ratio of butter and lack of a leavener such as baking powder or baking soda. Unlike other doughs, shortbread isn't designed to spread or rise in the oven; instead, the goal is a dense yet tender dough that holds its shape as it bakes and melts in your mouth upon eating. Gifting This Buttery Shortbread There are two different ways you can gift this brown-sugar shortbread. The first, of course, is to bake the cookies and package them in a tin. Alternatively, you can wrap the logs of dough tightly in freezer paper to keep it from drying out; then roll it in patterned waxed paper and secure the ends with twine. That way, your recipients can bake this delicious dough for themselves on-demand. Slicing a chilled log and re-forming it before freezing makes it easy to chip off and bake just a few at a time. Directions Make dough; divide and shape into logs: Beat together butter, sugars, and salt on medium speed until creamy and combined, 2 minutes. Add vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add flour, and beat to combine. Beat in chocolate. Divide dough into two pieces, each about 1 pound. Roll into logs (each about 8 1/2 inches long and 1 3/4 inches in diameter). Wrap in plastic and chill: Wrap logs in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours. Dough can be made to this point, well wrapped, and frozen for up to 1 month. (It can also be sliced and re-formed into logs before freezing.) Coat in sanding sugar; cut into slices: Remove from refrigerator or freezer (if frozen, let stand 10 minutes to soften). Brush with egg white and roll in sanding sugar to coat. Use a serrated knife and a back-and-forth motion to cut logs into 1/2-inch-thick slices (if any crack around larger chunks of chocolate, just press back together). Bake, then let cool completely: Preheat oven to 325°F. Place cookies on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake until golden on edges, 16 to 18 minutes. Let cool on pans on wire racks 10 minutes, then transfer to racks and let cool completely, about 45 minutes. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days, or freeze up to 1 month. More Shortbread Recipes to Try: Classic Shortbread 101 Martha's Scottish Shortbread Saffron Shortbread Chocolate-Hazelnut Shortbread Squares Savory Shortbread Oat-and-Spelt Shortbread Updated by Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds is an experienced recipe developer, recipe tester, food editor, and writer with over a decade of experience in the food and media industries.