Looking for an easy, one pan cookie? These Butterscotch Shortbread Cookies from Chef Gail Simmons are just outstanding, and sturdy enough for picnics and gift-giving.
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Why You’ll Love this Recipe
I can’t think of a person I know that doesn’t love cookies, and Butterscotch Shortbread Cookies are a favorite recipe to make for gifting year-round, and every buttery bite is absolutely delicious.
Here’s why they’re so good:
- This is a soft shortbread, thanks to the brown sugar
- These tender cookies are studded with flavorful butterscotch pieces
- You can make the dough in advance and freeze it for up to 30 days…yay for this.
- As cookie recipes go, this one is soft & buttery & is dunked in chocolate.
- Shortbread cookies are great for cookie exchanges because they aren’t super delicate and tend to travel well.
- Speaking of cookie exchanges, why not make it a little party and serve some casual food? Try these super easy Shredded Chicken Burrito Bowls (rotisserie chicken saves us again) or a Taco Skillet Bake – this one’s great as an appetizer with tortilla chips. Make it a main dish with a Blackberry Goat Cheese Salad or a Lemon Shrimp Salad maybe with a Lemon Artichoke Dip appetizer. Sounds like fun, right?
Love Shortbread? Lemon Shortbread Cookies are thick and soft, and these Macadamia Nut Shortbread Cookies are delicious too! Have a shortbread party!
Ingredients You’ll Need
For the full recipe and list of instructions, please scroll to the recipe card below.
- Butter: Unsalted butter
- Dark Brown Sugar: For unbelievable flavor
- Pure Vanilla Extract: See above 🙂
- Flour: All-purpose flour is best in this recipe
- Salt: Just a teaspoon of kosher salt
- Butterscotch Chips: For extra deliciousness
- Dark and Milk Chocolate: My favorite combo for dipping
Step-by-Step Instructions
For the full recipe and list of ingredients, please scroll to the recipe card below
This is an easy shortbread cookie, here’s all you do:
- Prepare a non-stick baking pan with parchment paper and pre-heat the oven
- In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract together on medium speed with an electric mixer
- Mix in the dry ingredients
- Mix in a half cup butterscotch chips
- Place dough in the baking pan, lightly patting it down with a rubber spatula
- Score the dough with a sharp knife or a pastry scraper to mark the preferred size.
- Place the tray on a baking sheet and bake for a total time of 50-60 minutes
- Let them cool completely, dip in melted chocolate, let them set and serve!
Tips for Dipping in Chocolate
- Start by having your chocolate melted and ready to go
- Remove the cookies from the baking pan, using a pastry scraper or knife to lift each cookie out
- Dip one half of the cookie in the melted chocolate, then set them on a wire rack that’s sitting on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
- Let the cookies set for about 30 minutes to allow the chocolate to firm up
More Tips For Success
- To prep your baking pan, spray the bottom and sides with baking spray (or do like me and smear a little olive oil with your clean fingers), then place a piece of fitted parchment paper on top, allowing several inches to hang over the sides
- Spray the top of the parchment paper lightly with a little more spray (or light smear of olive oil). The first spray keeps the parchment paper in place in the baking pan. The second is insurance against sticking, and the flap overlay helps to lift it out easily
- For serving, these cookies are a wonderful thing on their own, or great in a cellophane bags with a ribbon for gifting!
Serving Ideas
- For serving, these cookies are a wonderful thing on their own, or great in a cellophane bags with a ribbon for gifting!
- Make it a cookie party! Make some soft chocolate sugar cookies, some macadamia nut shortbread cookies, and these fantastic peanut butter and jelly cookies.
Frequently Asked Questions
This is such an important point! If you don’t feel like it, skip the chocolate dipping altogether. These cookies are so good on their own!
Absolutely! These can totally be made the day before.
Airtight container is always best for cookies, but a plate with a sheet of plastic wrap works in a pinch.
More Recipes to Try:
- Tiny Chocolate Chip Cookies: So tiny and fun and really tasty too..
- Chocolate Snowflake Cookies: A thick, pretty cookie that tastes great.
- 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
- Hawaiian Shortbread Cookie Recipe: Delicious and so easy!
- Decorated Chocolate Covered Strawberries: So pretty…everyone loves this easy idea!
If you’ve tried Butterscotch Shortbread Cookies, 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 Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 sticks Butter, unsalted, softened and cut in cubes
- ¾ cup Dark Brown Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
- 2 cups Flour, all-purpose
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Butterscotch Chips
- 4 ounces Dark Chocolate
- 4 ounces Milk Chocolate
Instructions
- Pre-heat 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 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.
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
This post was updated with new text and instructions September, 2022 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!