Chocolate Dipped Pecan Shortbread Cookies

Chocolate Dipped Pecan Shortbread Cookies – buttery and crumbly, these cookies are easy to make and easy to decorate. Just dip them in melted chocolate and then dip them again in pecan crumbs. Beautiful holiday cookies.

You might have noticed that I’ve been on a cookie marathon this month, posting 9 holiday cookie recipes in the month of December alone! Today’s beautiful chocolate dipped pecan shortbread cookies might be my very last (10th!) Christmas recipe this season.

This is one of the best shortbread recipes I’ve encountered, and I am definitely adding it to my Christmas cookie collection.  Also, consider adding these holiday shortbread cookies to your Christmas cookie tray as well:

• Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies
• Pecan Shortbread Cookies
• Almond Shortbread Cookies with Amaretto
• Chocolate Covered Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies
• Almond Crescent Cookies
• Cranberry Noels

Tips for making perfect shortbread cookies

A couple of tips on how to make sure the shortbread cookies come out the way they are meant to be:

• For shortbread cookies, it’s very important to measure the flour correctly. Don’t pack flour into a measuring cup. Instead, fluff it up, scoop it into a measuring cup or sift it. If you don’t, you might end up with an overly crumbly cookie dough.
• Remember that it’s a shortbread dough, so it’s supposed to be reasonably crumbly but not so crumbly that it’s impossible for you to roll it. You should be able to easily roll the dough into logs. Then, chilling these cookie dough logs in the freezer/refrigerator before slicing makes the job of slicing the cookies much easier!
• Use serrated knife to slice the cookie logs to help avoid crumbling the cookie dough.
• Before putting the cookies in the oven, make sure the oven is preheated to the right temperature.
• Do not bake the cookies for too long – every oven is different, and your oven might bake these cookies faster than mine. Don’t let your cookies get brown – a little brown around the bottom edges is OK. If they are baked just right, they are light and so tasty. Let them cool on a baking sheet for a couple of minutes, then transfer cookies onto a wire rack to continue cooling.

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Chocolate dipped pecan shortbread cookies

Prep Time

40 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

1 hr

 

These holiday Pecan Shortbread Cookies are buttery and crumbly and so easy to make.  To decorate, just dip the cookies in melted chocolate and then dip them again in pecan crumbs. Perfect addition to your Christmas cookie tray. 

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 20 cookies

Calories: 139 kcal

Ingredients

Pecan Shortbread Cookies:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 4 oz unsalted butter , room temperature
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup pecans , toasted, finely ground
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ingredients for Decorating:

• 4 ounces dark chocolate , high-quality, such as Lindt, chopped
• 1/3 cup pecans , toasted

Instructions

How to toast and grind pecans

1. Toast pecans at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 minutes. Watch carefully to make sure they don’t burn – they burn easily. Cool them off completely.

2. To make finely ground nuts, place toasted pecans into food processor and process until finely ground.

How to make pecan shortbread cookie dough

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar until creamy. Add vanilla and continue beating. Add 1/2 cup finely ground pecans and beat to combine. In a separate bowl, combine flour and salt, then add mixed flour and salt to the creamy butter-sugar mixture. Do not overmix, just enough to combine all ingredients and form a cookie dough.
2. Shape dough into 4 logs of different thickness (to make cookies of different radius – large and small). Wrap each log in plastic wrap and put wrapped cookie dough in the freezer for 30 minutes, then in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

How to bake shortbread cookies

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. 

2. After cookie dough has been in the freezer and in the refrigerator, unwrap plastic and slice each log into thin cookie slices. 

3. Place cookie slices on parchment-lined ungreased baking sheet, spacing 1 inch apart. 

4. Bake for about 15 minutes, don’t let the cookies get brown. After about 15 minutes of baking, let cookies cool for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

How to decorate shortbread cookies

1. Melt chocolate in a small skillet over medium heat, just until chocolate melts, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. Using spatula, brush half of the cookie on one side only (no chocolate on the bottom of the cookie) and along the cookie side. Dip the chocolate side of the cookie into coarsely chopped pecans. Return to rack. 

3. If you like, you can leave some cookies just covered with chocolate, without pecan crumbs. You can also leave some cookies just plain (no chocolate, no pecans on top of chocolate). 

4. Repeat with remaining cookies.

5.  Let cookies dry on rack for at least 1 hour, for chocolate to harden.

Recipe Notes

The recipe is adapted from Epicurious

Nutrition Facts

Chocolate dipped pecan shortbread cookies

Amount Per Serving

Calories 139 Calories from Fat 90

% Daily Value*

Fat 10g15%

Saturated Fat 4g25%

Cholesterol 12mg4%

Sodium 16mg1%

Potassium 64mg2%

Carbohydrates 11g4%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 4g4%

Protein 1g2%

Vitamin A 140IU3%

Calcium 9mg1%

Iron 1.1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.