Baking

Salted Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies

24 cookies • 20 min prep • 20-25 min bake

My take on the NYT recipe, incorporating tweaks from the comments and my own testing. The dough slices much cleaner after a full night in the fridge; two hours is the minimum but overnight is better.

Ingredients

9 items

255 gsalted butter(cold)

90 gpowdered sugar

60 glight brown sugar

1 tbspvanilla extract

325 gpastry flour

180 gchocolate(bittersweet, semi-sweet, or both)

1 largeegg(for egg wash)

75 gdemerara sugar(for coating)

20 gflaky sea salt(for finishing)

Method

12 steps

Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugars, and vanilla on medium-high until very light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.

Turn the mixer off and scrape down the sides. Set the mixer to low.

Add the flour in about 8 increments, letting each addition become fully incorporated before adding more.

Turn the mixer off. Add the chocolate to the dough and fold in by hand or with a wooden spoon; don't mix too aggressively.

Divide the dough into two equal halves and shape each into a log roughly 8" (20cm) long. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 2 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

Lightly beat the egg in a small bowl. Pour the demerara sugar into a separate shallow bowl. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

Remove one log from the fridge and use a straight-edge knife to cut it into 12 equal slices.

Roll the edge of each slice in the egg wash, then press into the demerara sugar to coat.

Repeat with the second log.

Place both trays in the oven. After 10 minutes, check and rotate the trays if baking unevenly. Bake another 10-15 minutes for 20-25 minutes total.

Immediately out of the oven, sprinkle each cookie with flaky sea salt. Cool on the tray for 3-5 minutes, then transfer to a rack for another 10 minutes.