Grapefruit, Pistachio, and Dark Chocolate Chunk Shortbread
Tender and buttery, these crazy simple shortbread cookies have the subtle flavor of grapefruit, the crunch of pistachio, and indulgence of dark chocolate. Yields about 50-60 shortbreads depending on how you shape them.
Servings Prep Time
50cookies 10minutes
Cook Time
22-27minutes
Servings Prep Time
50cookies 10minutes
Cook Time
22-27minutes
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Add the vanilla extract, grapefruit juice, chopped dark/bittersweet chocolate, and pistachios, mixing until incorporated.
  4. 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.
  5. Preheat the oven to 300°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove your chilled dough from the fridge.
  6. 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.
  7. 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).
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
Recipe Notes

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!

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