Shortbread Sandwich Cookies

Classic shortbread cookies just got elevated to sandwich cookie status. And who doesn’t love a sandwich cookie! In between the buttery, crispy, delicate shortbread cookies is a thin layer of melted semi-sweet chocolate. While you could certainly stop there with chocolate-filled shortbread sandwich cookies, I took things a step further. After all ’tis the season to be a bit decadent and extra.

So I coated the chocolate sandwich cookies in melted white chocolate. White chocolate adds the perfect sweet touch to the shortbread cookies because on their own, they’re not overly sweet so the white chocolate is a great balance. Then, I colored some additional white chocolate red and green and decorated the cookies even more. And tossed on some sprinkles for good measure. Every single element of these Christmas cookies make them perfect for holiday cookie exchanges, for your holiday dessert table and holiday parties, or gifting to those special people in your life. These decorated shortbread sandwich cookies are easy enough to make even for novice bakers because I walk you through all the steps, providing my tips and tricks along the way, to set you up for the best dipped shortbread sandwich cookies.

Ingredients For Shortbread Sandwich Cookies

For these coated and filled shortbread sandwich cookies, you’ll need some basic fridge and pantry ingredients including the following items: Shortbread Cookies

Unsalted butter Confectioners’ sugar Eggs Vanilla extract All-purpose flour Baking powder Salt

Filling

Semi-sweet chocolate chips Unsalted butter

White Chocolate Coating

White chocolate melting wafers OR White chocolate bar or white chocolate chips + coconut oil

Decorating, optional

Food coloring Sprinkles

Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.

How To Make Easy Shortbread Cookies

Both skilled and new bakers alike will enjoy this approachable recipe for shortbread cookie dough, chocolate filling, and melted white chocolate for coating. Let’s get started! Step 1: Using a stand mixer or large mixing bowl and hand mixer, beat the butter until it’s creamy. Step 2: Add the confectioners’ sugar.

Step 3: Add the eggs and vanilla.

Step 4: Add the dry ingredients a little at a time while slowly beating.

Step 5: Flatten dough into a thin disc, wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Step 6: Roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thick. Step 7: Using a 3-inch fluted biscuit cutter or your favorite cookie cutter, cut out the dough.

Step 8: Bake on Silpat or parchment lined baking sheets until lightly golden brown and cool completely.

How To Make Chocolate Filled Shortbread Sandwich Cookies

It’s fast and easy after your buttery shortbread cookies have cooled completely. Step 1: Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave and stir until smooth. Step 2: Spread a thin chocolate on top of the underside of one cookie and sandwich it together with another cookie.

Step 3: Repeat with all remaining cookies and let them set up.

I want to point out that dipping your shortbread cookies with chocolate filling is optional, although I highly recommend it for a couple reasons: appearance AND taste! The white chocolate really sweetens up your the overall flavor profile of the shortbread cookies. Step 1: After the chocolate filling has set up, melt the white chocolate until it’s smooth. Step 2: Dip each cookie in the white chocolate and set aside to harden.

Decorating White Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Sandwich Cookies

If you want to stop after you’ve got the sandwich shortbread cookies dipped in white chocolate, feel free! If you want to take it a step further, you can do the following decorating hacks which are optional. Step 1: Optionally, color a bit of white chocolate with red food color, and/or green food color, add it to a small ziptop baggie, snip the corner, and drizzle on as desired.

Step 2: Optionally, decorate the cookies with sprinkles and allow the melted chocolate to set up before serving and enjoying! Feel free to have fun and get creative! Like I mentioned, I used green and red gel food coloring with my melted white chocolate and the help of some plastic sandwich baggies.

I filled up two sandwich bags – one with green chocolate and the other with red. Then, I snipped the tiniest corner off of each bag and drizzled. I had a little white chocolate left over, so I drizzled that on as well. Christmas themed holiday sprinkles were my finishing touches!

Yes you do need to refrigerate the shortbread cookie dough. It’s a very buttery dough and without chilling it, trying to roll it out will be challenging to say the least because it’ll be very soft and mushy. Apart from that, your cookies would spread like crazy and lose the intended shape if you baked them off with warm dough. I recommend chilling the dough in a large, semi-flattened ball that you wrap well in plastic wrap. One hour is all that’s needed, although you can chill it for as long as 24 hours. If you do chill for an extended period of time, the dough will need 10 to 15 minutes at room temp before you roll it out since it’ll be too stiff and hard directly from the fridge. Tip: If you only chilled it for an hour though, get to rolling it out, cutting out the cookies, and then baking them off as quickly as possible.

Can I Double This Recipe?

Yes! This recipe can easily be doubled. You will have to bake the cookies in batches, but it’s easy enough to do.

Why Did My Shortbread Sandwich Cookies Not Stick Together?

If you dunked your little shortbread sandwich into the white chocolate only to have it fall apart, it’s because the chocolate in the middle wasn’t set yet. Before adding the semi-sweet chocolate filling to the cookies, make sure first that the cookies have totally cooled to room temperature. If they’re still warm, the chocolate will stay warm, and they’ll take what seems like forever to set! Then, after you sandwich two cookies together with the melted chocolate, give the sandwiches time to set and become sturdy. Only after the chocolate has totally and set are the sandwich shortbread cookies safe to dunk into the melted white chocolate.

Serving Suggestions For Dipped Shortbread Sandwich Cookies

These Christmas sandwich cookies are perfect for all of your holiday parties, entertaining, and hosting needs. You can gift them to friends and neighbors, leave them out for Santa on Christmas Eve, or be the star of your cookie exchange.

How To Store Shortbread Sandwich Cookies with Chocolate Filling

In an airtight container at room temperature, these tasty and festive holiday cookies will stay fresh for up to 5 days. They’ll keep airtight in the freezer for up to 3 months. Note that any time you take chocolate out of the freezer and let it thaw, beads of condensation will appear. This is normal, but the cookies will have a slightly different appearance so for that reason I don’t like to freeze and then later gift the cookies. But for my own family, it’s just fine!

Tips For The Best Shortbread Sandwich Cookies

All-Purpose Flour: Here’s a little tip that’ll help you with all of your baking recipes! Scoop your flour into your measuring cup instead of dipping the cup straight into the flour. When you dip the cup directly into the bag or container of flour, you’re tightly packing it in there. Packed flour means there’s too much flour! Butter: The butter needs to be softened for this recipe, so remember to let it sit on your countertop for about an hour prior to using it. You can sometimes cheat successfully by putting it in the microwave for about 10 seconds, but it’s really best to just let it soften at room temperature over time.

Rolling Out the Dough: If you do find that the dough is too moist when you go to roll out the dough, you can always add flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough is to just the right consistency. It should be smooth but soft and not tacky like chocolate chip cookie dough. If it is, you may need a touch more flour. Also make sure to generously flour your countertop or work surface when you’re going to roll it out so the dough doesn’t stick. Re-Rolling the Dough: I reuse my scraps once by re-rolling once. I mound up all my scraps, roll the dough out, cut out however many more cookies I can make, and that’s it. Anything leftover I don’t bother re-rolling since the dough is pretty well worked and warm at that point which doesn’t make for awesome cookies.

Baking Times: I used a fluted biscuit cutter that’s approximately 2 inches in diameter and made about 42 cookies, or 21 sandwiches. You can use any shape of cutter you want from round to tree or star shapes. Baking times will vary dramatically based on the exact size of cutter you use. Bake until your cookies are just set and lightly golden brown around the edges because they’ll continue to firm up and darken a bit as they cool. Optional Decorating Steps: Remember that if all you want to do is make shortbread sandwich cookies, that’s just fine! Dipping them in white chocolate is optional (but highly recommended). It’s mindlessly easy to sprinkle on your favorite holiday sprinkles so I recommend doing so without a doubt. The final steps of the dyed white chocolate used for the red and green stripes and drizzles are purely optional.

Have Fun with Food Coloring: But if you do decide to dye some white chocolate, it’s not just the drizzle that you can show a little creativity with! Feel free to dye the entire batch of white chocolate festive colors if that’s what you feel like doing. I like to use gel food coloring rather than the more old-fashioned food coloring I grew up with because you use much less gel so you water down the white chocolate less. Apart from that, the color is more intense which I love.

Christmas Shortbread Cookies – Jazz up typical Christmas shortbread cookies with these two-toned, soft and buttery shortbread cookies! They have fun and festive star-shaped sprinkles and are decorated with white chocolate Christmas trees making them perfect for holiday entertaining and cookie exchanges. They look impressive, but are easy enough for beginning bakers! Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes!

Frosted Snowflake Sugar Cookies – Classic sugar cookies that are heavenly sweet, soft, and all dressed up with piped vanilla frosting and sprinkles! They’re always the biggest hit at Christmas parties and cookie exchanges! Easy enough for novice bakers thanks to my straightforward directions which set you up for PERFECT Christmas cookies!

Christmas Cut Out Sugar Cookies – These traditional sugar cookies are just like Grandma used to make!! They’re thin but still soft, topped with a simple 2-ingredient royal icing, and loaded with sprinkles! So festive and perfect for cookies exchanges or hostess gifts!!

Cut-Out Coffee Cup Cookies – Soft, buttery sugar cookies cut out in the shape of coffee cups and decorated with red and white royal icing! These sugar cookies are PERFECT for Christmas as well as for wintertime parties and entertaining. No one will be able to resist these unique beauties!

Snowflake Linzer Cookies – Linzer cookies are the ultimate sandwich cookies! A layer of raspberry jam is tucked in between two buttery, nutty cookies and dusted with powdered sugar! Great Christmas cookies that are perfect to serve at your holiday parties or to include in cookie exchanges!

Stacked Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies – Softy, chewy, buttery sugar cookies are stacked in the shape of Christmas trees and layered with buttercream frosting! Fun and festive for the holidays and EASY to make! No need to roll out the dough nor chill it. A great holiday cookie to make with kids!

Snowball Cookies – They go by many names, but one thing for sure is that they’re a holiday FAVORITE! Super buttery with a lightly crunchy interior from chopped nuts, and dusted with confectioners’ sugar for a snowy look! These classic Christmas cookies just melt in your mouth and belong on your holiday baking list and are great for cookie exchanges!

Eggnog Teacakes – Soft, buttery tea cakes topped with a creamy eggnog glaze are a Christmas treat that everyone will love!! EASY to make, not at all dry, and great for cookie exchanges or hostess gifts!!

Soft Frosted Holiday Sprinkles Cookies – Tender, buttery cookies topped with cream cheese frosting and loaded with sprinkles! Easy, no-roll holiday cookies that everyone goes crazy for!

Santa’s Kitchen Sink Cookies — Santa and everyone else won’t be able to resist these AMAZING cookies loaded with everything but the kitchen sink!! EASY, festive, salty-sweet treats with a FUN ingredients list!!

Double Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich Cookies – Rich, decadent, soft and chewy double chocolate cookies are sandwiched together with a tangy cream cheese filling. Rolled in crushed candy canes and drizzled with white chocolate for extra flavor and holiday festiveness! They’re the PERFECT Christmas cookie!

Ritz Cookies (No-Bake Christmas Cookies) — If you need a ridiculously easy, no-bake dessert for a party, holiday cookie exchange, or just have a spur of the moment craving for chocolate and peanut butter, these Ritz cookies are perfect!

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