Little known fact about me: despite coming up with plenty of drop cookie recipes, shortbread cookies are actually my favorite.
They’re buttery, crumbly, and not too sweet. There’s nothing like biting into a shortbread cookie and feeling as it melts in your mouth.
Even better–they’re incredibly easy to make. These cookies fall right in line with all of those facts. They’re simple, subtle, and they sneak up on you. It didn’t take long before this became one of my favorite cookie recipes.
I brought them to my friend’s house for a cookie exchange over Christmas and she immediately asked me for the recipe because these had already become one of her favorite cookies.
The first time I made them, I refused to share them with anyone and got a bit bitter when, after obligingly putting them on a plate for coffee, someone grabbed one. These shortbreads bring out my inner Joey Tribbiani: if I have a batch made, I don’t want to share them.
The beautiful thing about citrus fruits like grapefruits is that they’re readily available in the winter. With a flavor that can sometimes come across as bitter or sour, these shortbreads might be able to convert even the biggest grapefruit critic–the flavor is subtle, but present, and it mixes well with the earthy, saltiness of the pistachio and the richness of the bittersweet chocolate.
It’s no secret that I watch a lot of baking shows. Every time I see that they have to make something citrusy, I like to think that my bake would somehow use grapefruit.
I can’t repeat enough how easy these cookies are to make. Shortbread cookies are the kind that work best with a weight-based ratio. If you have a kitchen scale, I highly recommend you weigh these out by the gram to get the best result. I have, however, included volume-based measurements in the recipe below in case you want to go that route.
Back to the ease of these cookies–you cream together room temperature butter and some granulated sugar, add in the flour and zest, then toss some grapefruit juice, pistachios, and chocolate, then let it all chill out in the fridge for a while.
As always, I like to stick my cookies in the freezer for a few minutes before I bake them. I recommend that you don’t skip that step when it comes to these. Having nice, solid shortbread shapes will help keep them from spreading while they bake, plus, if you turn them into something like hearts or stars, they’ll hold that shape much better!
Once they’re baked, you can either enjoy them as they are, or dip them in some more chocolate. Really, who can complain about having more chocolate?
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | 22-27 minutes |
| Servings |
cookies
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- 300 grams butter room temperature (2 sticks + 1/3 cup)
- 150 grams granulated sugar (2/3 cup)
- 450 grams flour (3 3/4 cup)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large grapefruit juice and zest
- 1/2 cup bittersweet/dark chocolate chopped
- 2/3 cup pistachios chopped
Ingredients
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- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy--about 2-5 minutes.
- Mix together your flour and grapefruit zest. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar mixture and beat until just combined. The dough will be crumbly, so don't worry if it doesn't completely come together quite yet.
- Add the vanilla extract, grapefruit juice, chopped dark/bittersweet chocolate, and pistachios, mixing until incorporated.
- Split dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap. I tend to make a ball and flatten it into a disc. Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 300°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove your chilled dough from the fridge.
- Either between two sheets of parchment paper or with a little bit of flour (depending on the size of your grapefruit the dough might be tacky, adding a bit of flour will make it easier to roll without completely throwing off the texture of the cookie), roll your dough until it's about 1/3" inch thick. Using a cookie cutter or a knife, cut into whatever shape you'd like.
- Place cookies on the baking sheet. Using a fork, poke the dough a couple times. This will help keep the cookies from rising too much in the oven. Place the filled sheet pan in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes until the shortbreads feel solid (this will keep them from spreading in the oven).
- Bake about 22-27 minutes until the bottoms of the shortbreads just begin to turn golden brown. The top should still look a bit pale. Remove from the oven and let cool a bit before transferring to a wire rack.
- OPTIONAL: Once the shortbreads are cooled, melt about 3/4 cup-1 cup chocolate in the microwave (30 second intervals at 50% power, stirring between each, until completely melted), and dip half of the cookie into the chocolate. Leave to dry.
I just use bittersweet chocolate chips and chop them into pieces before I add them to the dough. I also buy shelled and salted pistachios because I've shelled 2/3 cup before and it took forever! If you want to go that route though, I respect you and your decision.
When rolling out the dough, the chocolate chunks will usually let you know when you've reached the right thickeness.
You don't have to dip these shortbreads into chocolate if you don't want to, but doing so is definitely a great choice!