Chocolate Orange Shortbread Cookies
Melt-in-your-mouth orange shortbread filled with chopped dark chocolate and dipped in more dark chocolate. This easy chocolate orange shortbread cookie recipe is the perfect cold weather treat!
Tasting Notes
orange | chocolate | brown sugar
Pairing Suggestions
starbucks | cookie exchange | late afternoon sun
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Table of Contents
Reasons to love these shortbread cookies
- Only six ingredients – and you probably already have them lying around!
- Visually stunning – adding chopped chocolate to the dough turns these cookies into little mosaic masterpieces with minimal artistic skill required
- Chocolate orange – a classic flavor pairing that simply never gets old
- Melt-in-your-mouth – this shortbread cookie texture feels so decadent!
- Vegan and gluten free – this recipe is friendly to almost any diet
- Slice and bake – the easiest type of cookie to prep
- Keep well in freezer – make these in advance or, if you’re like me, have a batch ready in case of a cookie emergency 😉
Ingredients you’ll need for chocolate orange shortbread cookies
Flour: I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 baking flour (purchase here), which is a volumetric equivalent to all purpose flour. If you are not gluten free, you can use all purpose flour instead.
Butter: I use miyokos salted european style block butter. If you aren’t vegan, feel free to swap in your favorite salted butter. If you only have unsalted butter, add in half a teaspoon of salt to the flour.
Brown Sugar: gives these cookies a bit of depth of flavor and complements the orange nicely.
Powdered Sugar: helps sweeten the cookies while also contributing to that nice melt-in-your-mouth texture by adding starch to the dough.
Orange Juice: just a bit to flavor the dough without adding too much moisture. Use freshly squeezed, it truly makes all the difference!
Orange Zest: to really bring out the orange flavor in the dough, plus extra to garnish, if desired.
Dark Chocolate: we’re doubling down on the chocolate in this recipe! Chopped chocolate goes right in the cookie dough, plus we’re dipping the baked cookies in melted chocolate for an elegant and delicious finished product. I love Theo chocolate – stock up on their orange dark chocolate bars with this amazon link!
Making the shortbread cookie dough
Start by bringing the butter to room temperature. Do not microwave! Simply set it on the counter while you prepare the rest of the ingredients
Preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. No need to spray or grease, the cookies won’t stick, promise.
Using a hand beater, you’ll incorporate the sugars into the softened butter until light and fluffy. Add in the orange zest first, then toss in the orange juice.
While beating the mixture on low speed, add the flour. I find it’s easier to add the flour in two batches!
After the flour comes the chopped chocolate. Turn off the hand mixer, we’re done with it!
Chopping the chocolate is what gives these cookies their lovely mosaic finish, so I highly recommend you take the extra step to chop those chips up into uneven chocolate pieces.
After adding the chocolate, carefully fold to incorporate. You do NOT want to over mix because the smaller chocolate pieces will dye the dough brown, and you won’t get the nice contrast of orange shortbread and dark chocolate shards.
Expert tips
Don’t overmix – overmixing after adding the chopped chocolate will allow the chocolate to completely overtake the color of the dough. To get the nice mosaic look, gently combine with a spatula.
Measuring flour – if you’re an avid baker, then you probably know to spoon and level the flour instead of scooping straight from the bag. This recipe calls for Bob’s 1:1 baking flour, which is a volumetric equivalent to all purpose flour, ie we actually aren’t measuring for weight in this recipe. If you opt to use a different gluten free flour blend, then you’ll need to measure by weight (296 grams).
Choosing the right butter – I highly recommend using the Miyoko’s plant based European style blocks of butter. DO NOT use a spreadable butter in this recipe! This is especially important for these cookies as butter makes up such a large proportion of the dough. Please use a block style vegan butter to prevent over-spreading in the oven and to achieve that perfect melt-in-your-mouth crumb. If you’re working with dairy based butters, be extra sure to slowly bring it to room temperature – do not microwave, it will destroy the texture!
Recipe Card
Chocolate Orange Shortbread Cookies
Equipment
- 1 large baking sheet
- 1 hand mixer
Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten free baking flour
- 1 cup plant based butter, block style
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp orange zest, divided
- 1 tbsp orange juice
- 12 oz dark chocolate*
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350℉
- Chop ¼ cup of the dark chocolate and reserve teh rest of the chocolate for melting later.
- Beat the sugars and room temperature butter with a hand mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the orange juice and 1 tbsp of the orange zest, beat to incorporate.
- Add the flour and reduce the speed to low, beat until incorporated.
- Add the chopped chocolate and carefully fold into the dough.
- Divide the dough into three equal sized sections, roll each section in to a log about 8 inches long.
- Cover with sran wrap and chill the dough logs for at least 20 minutes and up to 36 hours, or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Slice the logs of dough into individual cookies (approximately ¾ inches thick).
- Arrange on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 9 to 11 minutes, watching for when the edges just start to turn golden.
- In a microwave safe bowl, melt the dark chocolate chips in 30 second intervals, stirring gently between each.
- Dip half of each shortbread cookie in the melted chocolate, then place on a lined baking sheet to dry.
Notes
Key Nutrients
Protein
Calories
Fiber
