Shortbread is a simple and delicious cookie that is super adaptable! One of my favorite cookies are these brown butter chocolate hazelnut shortbread cookies! They're light, buttery, and full of nutty hazelnut flavor that pairs perfectly with dark chocolate!
You can cut them into classic rounds or these cute little shortbread bars. They're great for making at home with the kiddos or giving out to friends and family!
You might also like these almond shortbread cookies, this brown butter hazelnut cake, or these hazelnut brownies!
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Ingredient Notes
These brown butter chocolate hazelnut cookies use my classic easy shortbread cookie recipe! It’s buttery and crumbly without being too dry. You only need a couple basic ingredients, but I like to add in a few extras for flavor!
Brown Butter - My favorite ingredient of all time is brown butter!! Brown butter is just unsalted butter that has been melted and gently cooked to bring out a toasty, nutty flavor. If you've never made brown butter before, you can check out this post with all my tips for how to make brown butter! I recommend making the brown butter the night before you make the hazelnut cookies so that it has time to fully cool to room temperature!
Hazelnut Flour - Hazelnut flour is literally just finely ground hazelnuts! I love using it in place of some of the flour for an extra nutty flavor. But it's completely optional! You can buy hazelnut flour at a lot of grocery stores and online (Bob’s Red Mill is my favorite brand for nut flours).
Toasted Hazelnuts - Chocolate and hazelnuts are one of my favorite combos! But you could also substitute almonds or pecans if you prefer.
Dark Chocolate - Use dark chocolate baking bars as opposed to chocolate chips!! Chips contain emulsifiers that help them keep their shape, which also means they won't combine as smoothly as chocolate bars. If desired, you can use milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate instead.
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
How to Make Brown Butter Shortbread
Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the softened brown butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Then add in the vanilla extract and mix until fully combined.
Mix in the flour, hazelnut four, and salt until just combined. The dough should come together into a soft but not sticky ball.
Then gently fold in the toasted hazelnuts.
Divide in half and press the dough into discs. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (or a minimum of at least 2 hours).
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
I use a 3 inch shortbread cookie cutter for these chocolate hazelnut shortbread cookies but you can cut the cookies in whatever shapes you like!
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough between ¼ and ½ inch thick and cut into your desired shaped. Place cutout cookies 1-2 inches apart on your baking sheet (they won’t spread much).
Place the baking sheet in the freezer for a minimum of 20 minutes (or the fridge for 40 minutes) before baking to allow the cookies to firm back up. This ensures the cookies won't spread during baking.
While the cookies are chilling, preheat your oven to 350°F.
Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are set. Bake on the middle rack of the oven and rotate the pan halfway through baking for the best results.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then remove and let them finish cooling on a cooling rack.
Let the hazelnut cookies cool completely before decorating.
Dip the cookies halfway (or more, you do you) into the melted dark chocolate and place back on the cooling rack.
Sprinkle with crushed hazelnuts before the chocolate cools and hardens.
Let the chocolate harden completely on the chocolate hazelnut shortbread cookies before storing.
Tips for Perfect Cookies
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, crumbly cookies that don't spread.
Make sure your oven is the proper temperature! Use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is exactly 350°F. If the oven is too cold, the cookies will spread too much and if it's too hot they centers won't bake all the way through. For example, my oven is about 20 degrees off. So I have to set the oven to 370°F in order to get it to bake at 350°F.
Use a lightweight, light colored baking sheet for best results! Believe it or not, a lighter pan makes the cookies bake more slowly than a dark pan, which helps keep them from spreading too much. My favorite pans for baking cookies are:
You also want to use either parchment paper or silicone mats on your cookie sheet to help keep the cookies from spreading.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time, on the center rack. This will ensure all your cookies cook evenly and the bottoms don't burn. Then let the cookie sheet cool completely between batches. This ensures the cookies cook evenly and don't spread too much by being put on a hot pan.
Always under-bake the cookies! If you slightly under-bake the cookies (so the centers are still soft when you remove them from the oven), they'll stay soft and chewy for days!
Do the cookie scoot! In order to get perfectly round cookies, use a large cookie cutter to gently scoot them around as soon as they come out of the oven!
Recipe FAQ's
These chocolate hazelnut shortbread will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
Chilling the cookie dough allows the flour to hydrate a bit and ensures the brown butter is super cold. This keeps your cookies from spreading too much and completely flattening out. It also ensures the shortbread cookies keep their shape!
Nope! You can use regular unsalted butter if that's what you prefer. I just love how the brown butter enhances the flavor of the hazelnuts.
Yes! You can freeze either the dough or the baked cookies! To freeze the dough, wrap tightly and then place in a freezer safe bag for 2-3 months. Let thaw in the fridge overnight before using. Baked shortbread cookies can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months (I like to freeze them before dipping in chocolate).
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Chocolate Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies
Special Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted brown butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup hazelnut flour, substitute with almond flour or all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup toasted hazelnuts, finely chopped
Topping
- 4 ounces dark chocolate, melted
- 2 tablespoons toasted hazelnuts, finely chopped
Instructions
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the softened brown butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Then add in the vanilla extract and mix until fully combined.
- Mix in the flour, hazelnut four, and salt until just combined. The dough should come together into a soft but not sticky ball.
- Then gently fold in the toasted hazelnuts.
- Divide in half and press the dough into discs. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (or a minimum of at least 2 hours).
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough between ¼ and ½ inch thick and cut into your desired shaped. Place cutout cookies 1-2 inches apart on your baking sheet (they won’t spread much).
- Place the baking sheet in the freezer for a minimum of 20 minutes (or the fridge for 40 minutes) before baking to allow the cookies to firm back up. This ensures the cookies won't spread during baking.
- While the cookies are chilling, preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are set. Bake on the middle rack of the oven and rotate the pan halfway through baking for the best results.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then remove and let them finish cooling on a cooling rack.
- Let the hazelnut cookies cool completely before decorating.
- Dip the cookies halfway (or more, you do you) into the melted dark chocolate and place back on the cooling rack. Sprinkle with crushed hazelnuts before the chocolate cools and hardens.
- Let the chocolate harden completely on the cookies before storing.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Sara says
I was just looking for a recipe like this!! I am going to try it this weekend. What is the difference between cut out shortbread (chilling dough and using cutters) vs the crumbly shortbread that you just spread in the pan right away.
For this recipe, can I put all of it in a square pan and score it?
Kyleigh Sage says
I've never specifically tried this method, but it should work! My pecan pie cookie bars (https://www.barleyandsage.com/pecan-pie-cookie-bars/) have a shortbread crust and that's basically the same idea! I'd probably drop the temp down to 325 (to prevent the tops from over browning) and increase the baking time to 30-45 minutes.