I am a huge shortbread lover and have been having fun putting a new twist on my old favorite. A couple of weeks ago I shared my Peppermint Chocolate Shortbread recipe, and today I have some Red Velvet shortbread for you.
These cookies can be stored for up to 3 months in an airtight container, so feel free to double or triple the recipe and keep some extras on hand. I hear that they are also one of Santa’s favorites so you may want to save a couple for Christmas Eve! 😉
- 1¼ cups flour
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter, cut up
- 1 tablespoon red food coloring
- 3 ounces white chocolate, chopped
- 1½ tsp shortening
- white sugar flake sprinkles
- Preheat the oven to 325F.
- In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender {or your hands!}, cut in butter and food coloring until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Form into a ball and knead until smooth.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll or pat the dough out to approximately a ½ inch thickness. Use a floured round cookie cutter to cut out the dough (I did mine about a 1½ inch diameter).
- Place the cookies 1 inch apart on on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes until the centers are set. Cool.
- In a saucepan, melt the white chocolate and shortening over low heat, stirring constantly. Roll the edges of the cookies in the melted chocolate and then sprinkle with the sugar flakes. Let stand until set.
- Cookies may be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
The recipe makes approximately 18-20 1 1/2 inch diameter cookies, but they would still be a good size if you cut them down to 1 inch cookies and you would probably get closer to 30 cookies.
I hope you like these as much as I do! I think they add a nice pop of color to any cookie platter. 🙂
These are so pretty and right up my alley! Do you think I could just skip the shortening in the melted white chocolate? I don’t buy it any more but do have coconut oil, if that would work.
The shortening just makes the chocolate a bit of a smoother consistency and easier to work with for dipping. I’m not sure if the coconut oil would work but you could just try skipping the shortening.
Do you suggest freezing the dough so the cookies do not spread when you bake them?
I didn’t freeze mine and didn’t get much spread but if your dough has warmed up a bit from mixing it, you could place it in the fridge (or freezer) to cool it down. Good tip!
What a great decorative cookies for the Christmas period! After all preparation fever (clening, buying or making presents) these cookies will be the best remuneration, I am sure kids (the little helpers) will love them!
Do you think these could just be rolled in a ball then flattened with a glass before baking, instead of rolling them?
That should work too – just make sure it is uniformly flattened. You could also just roll it all into a log and slice. 🙂
I am curious about cutting in the butter after all the dry ingredients are mixed together, including the sugar. Any cookie recipes I have used require mixing the butter with the sugar and then adding the rest of the dry ingredients. Is this how a real shortbread cookie is made? Does it make a difference?
Yes, I do believe the more traditional shortbread cookie recipes start with creaming the butter together with the sugar – I believe to aerate it more. There also seems to be a lot of debate over whether to use softened or cold butter. Personally I don’t notice a whole lot of difference either way {although I do usually use cold butter}, but I’m sure there are bakers out there that have a preference one way or another. I’m a big cookie fan so I like them any way! 🙂 If you’re making up a couple of batches, maybe try them different ways and see what you like. I’d love to hear your preference!
Can you make the dough into a log and chill it and then slice & bake??
I don’t see why not. I’ll have to try that next time I make these!