Looking for an easy, one pan cookie? These Butterscotch Shortbread Dipped in Chocolate from Chef Gail Simmons are just outstanding, and sturdy enough for picnics or gift-giving!
Love Shortbread? Lemon Shortbread Cookies are thick and soft, totally delicious!
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
I can’t think of a person I know that doesn’t love cookies. I certainly do, this is one of my favorite shortbread recipes to make every year for gifting in fall and winter. I make multiple batches every year because they are absolutely delicious.
Here’s why they’re so good:
- This is a soft shortbread, with different than the usual ingredients, like brown sugar
- This cookie is studded with butterscotch pieces…(you’ll never go back, so good)
- You can make the dough in advance and freeze it for up to 30 days…yay for this.
- This soft, buttery cookie gets a final dunk in regular chocolate…this takes the flavors over the top
- Cookie exchanges loves this recipe..it travels well too.
More Recipes to Try:
Tiny Chocolate Chip Cookies: So tiny and fun and really tasty too..
White Chocolate Popcorn: Great for gifting, this popcorn looks as good as it tastes!
Peanut Butter and Jam Cookies: A classic combo, all in one delicious cookie
Decorated Chocolate Covered Strawberries: So pretty…everyone loves this easy idea!
If you’ve tried Butterscotch Shortbread Dipped in Chocolate, or any other recipe on Studio Delicious, please rate the recipe and & I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
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Butterscotch Shortbread Dipped In Chocolate
Ingredients
- 2 sticks Butter, unsalted, softened and cut in cubes
- 3/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
- 2 cups Flour, all-purpose
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 cup Butterscotch Chips
- 4 ounces Dark Chocolate
- 4 ounces Milk Chocolate
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 300, with the rack placed in the lower third of the oven.
- Grease a 9 x 9 inch non-stick baking pan with butter or cooking spray.
- MAKE THE SHORTBREAD
- In a medium bowl using a hand mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the vanilla, reduce speed to low, then add the flour and salt and mix until just combined.
- Mix in the butterscotch chips with a wooden spoon until evenly distributed.
- Press the dough lightly into the prepared pan using a rubber spatula and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Score the dough with a knife of bench (pastry) scraper into eighths one direction and quarters in the other to make 32 rectangular cookies.
- Before placing in the oven, lightly pierce the dough all over the top with a fork.
- Bake the bars until firm and slightly golden brown on the edges, about 50-60 minutes (in my oven it was 55 minutes.)
- Immediately cut through the scoring with a sharp knife or bench (pastry) scraper to separate the bars. Leave them in the pan to cool completely.
- DIP THE COOKIES IN CHOCOLATE
- Melt the dark and milk chocolate in a small sauce pan with shallow water and a bowl fitted on top (shallow enough not to let the bowl touch the water) on medium heat. Stir occassionally until melted and combined. You can also melt the chocolate in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each 30 seconds until all the chocolate is melted.
- Remove the cookies from the pan and place on a cookie rack lined sheet pan or a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
- Dip half of each cookie in the melted chocolate, scraping any excess lightly with the side of the bowl, and place back on the baking sheet. Allow the cookies to set, about 30 minutes.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
- To prep the pan for baking, I spray the bottom and sides with a natural cooking spray, then place a fitted piece of parchment paper inside with a flap hanging over two sides, then spray it again.
- The extra spray holds the parchment in place, and the whole thing can be easily pulled from the tray by lifting the flaps of the parchment. This is the technique I use for any bar cookie using a square pan.
- This recipe was updated in December 2019
Nutrition
- Super important to read the whole recipe before you begin
- Pay attention to the ingredient list and photos for the recipe
- If possible, prep your ingredients a little before you start
- Always use a sharp knife for safety
- Use the size of pan called for in the recipe
- For savory recipes, taste and season as you go
- Buy fresh, organic ingredients, locally sourced whenever possible
Source: Studio Delicious, adapted from Gail Simmons
Original Post:
In my house, you can’t say “cookie” without two giant Labrador Retrievers coming to get one. No matter how quietly you say it, they somehow hear the word and come running, with slobbery, happy faces ready for a treat.
It’s impossible to turn them down.
Cookies are a form of payment for everything with these two dogs, no matter how small the task. Want me outside? Give me a cookie. Are we going for a walk? Cookies, please. Rub my ears and pat my head? You guessed it.
They are such sophisticated hustlers they’ve even trained me to give them a cookie after I go potty 🙂
I have baked at least a million cookies in my life so far, and unfortunately, eaten many of them myself.
Cookies make you happy, so I totally get why my dogs take such extreme measures to get one.
Close your eyes for a minute and remember the best shortbread you’ve ever had. I’ll wait.
Now imagine that delightfully crumbly shortbread with a butterscotch-y taste too, that makes you so crazy with delight you can’t stand it. I wish I could see your face with the first bite. Better take a small plate of them with you back to the couch, so you’ll have them handy.
My final thought on these is do not even consider skipping the chocolate- dipping part. It takes the cookies to a whole different level and will have everyone in your house coming back for more.
HOW MANY TABLESPOONS OF BUTTER? 8 T or 16 T??
I used the equivalent of 2 sticks, which is 4 X 1/2 sticks, which is 16 T.
your photos look lighter. I think I may have doubled the amount of butter due to the ‘1/2’ stick packaging.
Please clarify!
THANK YOU!
A stick of butter is 8 tablespoons, so you’ll need a total of 16 tablespoons for the recipe. Hope it all worked out!