Good morning friends, we are excited to be back today sharing another post full of holiday cheer and inspiration, and I know you’re going to love this one because it’s all about Christmas cookies!
Like many of you, holiday baking is one of our favourite family traditions during the Christmas season (find all of our favourite holiday traditions here). We enjoy gathering around our kitchen island to whip up batches of shortbread cookies (my personal favourite), gingerbread men and homemade caramel corn while Christmas music and sweet scents fill the air. And we’ve quickly realized baking is a lot more fun this year as our little one is old enough to help out…she sure doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty!
And if you like this recipe, be sure to try our…
Melt-In-Your-Mouth Shortbread Cookies
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
So over the weekend, we spent a little time in our kitchen getting a head start on our holiday baking with these yummy Pecan Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies. We chose to bake a classic shortbread cookie with a sweet little twist.
Usually, we make our shortbread cookies plain and simple – that’s the way I like them best. But we thought it might be fun to try something different this year and that’s why we dipped them in chocolate and sprinkled on crushed pecans. It’s a nice little change to a holiday favourite, and they sure do look pretty!
Pecan Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cups icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
For the Chocolate & Pecans
- 1 package dark chocolate chips
- 1 cup pecan pieces
- Coarse Sugar
- Coarse Sea Salt
Notes
For the Cookies
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Combine the butter, icing sugar and vanilla in a stand mixer. Mix with a paddle attachment until it is nice and whipped.
- Add the all-purpose flour and mix on low speed until just combined.
- Divide dough in half and create two round balls, then slightly flatten with the palm of your hand.
- Wrap in cellophane and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
- Remove from fridge and place one dough ball between two pieces of wax paper.
- Roll dough to about a 1/4" thickness.
- Use a cookie cutter shape of your choice to cut as many as you can. Gather up excess dough and repeat the process until you have used up each dough ball.
- Place on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies look like they're JUST about to turn lightly brown.
- Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
For the Chocolate and Pecans
- Place chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl and heat at 50% in 1-minute increments, stirring in between.
- When all chocolate chips have melted, dip half of each cookie into the chocolate and remove. Allow some of the excess chocolate to drip off (is there such a thing as excess chocolate??).
- Lay on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and top with pecan pieces and sprinkle some coarse sugar and a very small amount of coarse sea salt on top.
- Place in refrigerator for 10 minutes for the chocolate to set.
Cranberry Orange White Chocolate Chip Cookies by Ella Claire | Pecan Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies by A Burst of Beautiful | Cinnamon Cookies by Zevy Joy | Gingerbread Houses by Miss Mustard Seed
Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti by anderson + grant | Paleo Double Chocolate Chip Peppermint Cookies by Nesting with Grace | Chocolate Crinkles Cookies by So Much Better with Age | Cranberry Rosemary Butter Cookies by Nina Hendrick Design Co.
Gluten Free Coconut Fudge Bites by City Farmhouse | Maple Sugar House Cookies by Finding Home Farms | Honey Nut Rugelach by Love Grows Wild | Red Velvet Oreo Cheesecake Cookies by Nest of Posies
Mexican Spicy Chocolate Cookies by Maison de Pax | Coconut Shortbread Cookies by My Sweet Savannah | Old Fashioned Gingerbread Cookies by House 214 | Cinnamon and Sugar Lattice Pie Crust Cookies by Craftberry Bush
Jamie | anderson + grant says
Oh my Alicia….I must have some of these cookies! They sound delicious and your pictures make me feel like I can reach right out and grab one off the cookie sheet.
Alicia says
Thank you, Jamie! They are definitely a favorite of ours…it was hard to keep them around long enough to photograph! 🙂
Becky says
Hi there,
Do you toast the pecans?
Alicia says
Hi Becky, we didn’t toast the pecans, but I think it would be delicious to do so!
Jackie Dixon says
What is “icing” sugar?
Nick says
Hi Jackie,
It’s the same thing as confectioners sugar or powdered sugar…
Ashley says
Are these cookies good to make ahead and freeze?
Alicia says
Hi Ashley, you could certainly make these ahead and freeze them although the chocolate may get that “cloudy” look to it. I would recommend freezing the cookies before dipping in chocolate. Once you’re ready to thaw a batch you could then add the chocolate and pecans. I hope you enjoy them!
Kristel says
Hi! Could I freeze the dough then pull out and thaw and bake when needed? Also how long can the dough be frozen for if they can? Thanks!
Alicia says
Hi Kristel, We’ve never tried freezing the dough, but I think it should be ok. I wouldn’t freeze it longer than a month or two. If you do try it, we’d love to hear if it worked out! 🙂
Kelly says
I really had trouble with this recipe! First the dough was super crumbly, then after chilling it, it became sticky. I ended up adding more flour, which helped a bit. Then the cookies spread in the oven, so I ended up increase the temperature which helped. Lastly, the chocolate wasn’t nearly thin enough to dip, even though I melted it over a double boiler. I ended up having to dip and kind of spread the chocolate around. Not sure where I went wrong, but my cookies certainly didn’t end up looking like yours.
Nick says
Hi Kelly,
So sorry you had issues with this! I hope they were at least delicious even though they didn’t turn out perfectly!
Amanda says
I had a similar issue to Kelly. My dough, after taking it out of the fridge was so hard it was nearly impossible to roll out. Once I was able to roll it out I got about 10 cut outs before the dough was so sticky. I also added more flour but it ended up causing the dough to crack. I threw out the dough after that and only baked the ten cutouts. The 10 or so that I did make came out perfect, but was sad to not be able to get them all cut for our cookie boxes we made for our family and friends.
Alicia says
Hi Amanda, I’m sorry to hear you had an issue with this recipe. We’ve made it a couple of times and haven’t had a problem. But we are going to add it to our recipe test list again to see if there are any issues we can fix in the recipe.
Liz says
Could I make these a day ahead?
Alicia says
Yes, definitely!
Sandra says
Hi Alicia… these cookies are so good that I’m on my fourth time making them. I have given them as early Christmas gifts and have received many nice compliments. I did not have any issues with the dough like some others mentioned. The look of these Christmas cookies are beautiful and I thank you for sharing with us. May you & your family have a “Merry Christmas”.
Alicia says
Thank you, Sandra, that is so wonderful to hear! We are so glad you are enjoying them and didn’t have any problems with the recipe. Merry Christmas to you and your family as well! 🙂
Suzanne says
This looks so good! What a great treat to make for the Christmas cookie tin!
Vanessa says
Thanks for sharing! How far ahead of time can I make them?
Sarah says
I too had the issue of dry, crumbly dough. I added about 1/8 cup of melted butter and a tablespoon or so of milk, and the dough was perfect.
Alicia says
Thank you for sharing what worked for you, Sarah, we appreciate the input. Happy holidays! 🙂