Chocolate Shortbread Cookies with Dark Chocolate, Cranberries and Walnuts

These Chocolate Shortbread Cookies with Dark Chocolate, Cranberries and Walnuts are rich, buttery and loaded with chocolate flavour. The tartness of the dried cranberries complement the dark chocolate perfectly and the walnuts add a touch of texture. The holiday baking continues!

Hello everyone!  How was your weekend?  We had another Christmas filled one!  We had a party to go to Friday, which was lovely and then the rest of the weekend was spent baking, decorating and watching bad made-for-tv Christmas movies.  But, seriously, what is up with those movies?  They are so predictable, but once I start watching them, I can’t take my eyes off ’em!  Are you the same way?  Please say yes 😉 Now, onto these delish chocolate shortbread cookies, shall we?

We finally finished decorating our tree, too?Do you guys have an artificial tree or real one?  Growing up we always had a real tree and I just love the pine smell that comes from it.  Hubby grew up with an artificial tree and when we got married the artificial tree won over.  It’s not too bad, though, ’cause it’s pre-light and that is definitely a time saver?!  More time for baking cookies….hehehe?

As I was unpacking the ornaments, I realized how many memories are contained in each and every one of them? I’m totally a traditional girl and while the more modern looking decorated trees are beautiful, I must rather prefer an old school tree.  Each ornament has a story.  As I was grabbing each, I was thinking ‘oh, that’s the time when….’, ya know?  We have ones for when we moved into our new home years ago, when we had our first Christmas together as a married couple, ones from loved pets that have since passed and even ones from when we were children.

Funny thing…when you get ornaments like that, while they are special at the time, they truly mean that much more as the years pass and I love looking at our tree – so many happy memories and stories❤️

Food is like that too, don’t you think?  Certain foods or meals are representative of a memory or special occasion.  Last week I shared Shortbread Cookies with White Chocolate and Candy Cane.    Every single year I make these cookies and only at Christmas.  I decided to do a twist on this iconic cookie this year and go with a chocolate version.  I got the idea of using dark chocolate from my friend Kevin from Kevin is Cooking.  He had commented on my last post about seeing a dark chocolate version in  his future and I thought that was a brilliant idea!  Hence, Chocolate Shortbread Cookies with Dark Chocolate, Cranberries and Walnuts?

For these cookies, I subbed out some of the flour for cocoa powder and garnished them with a rich dark chocolate, tart dried cranberries and buttery walnuts.  They tastes just as good as the original, but are totally different with the chocolate kick.  It’s good to have cookie options, ya know ? ?

I’m sure with these Chocolate Shortbread Cookies with Dark Chocolate, Cranberries and Walnuts a new tradition has been born.  I certainly hope you get a chance to try these too!  You’re gonna love ’em!

Until next time, take care and chit chat again soon!

~Dawn

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5 from 8 votes

Chocolate Shortbread Cookies with Dark Chocolate, Cranberries and Walnuts

These Chocolate Shortbread Cookies with Dark Chocolate, Cranberries and Walnuts are rich, buttery and loaded with chocolate flavour. The dried cranberries add the perfect tartness to the dark chocolate and the walnuts adds a touch of texture. The holiday baking continues!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Canadian

Keyword shortbread cookies, chocolate shortbread

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Cooling 20 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 36 cookies

Calories 154kcal

Author Dawn Coombs

Ingredients

• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1.5 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1.5 cups unsalted butter -softened at room temperature
• 6 oz dark chocolate -melted
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries -chopped, if necessary to make smaller
• 1/3 cup walnuts -chopped

Instructions

• In a mixer combine corn starch, icing sugar, flour, cocoa powder and salt. Add butter and blend until combined and dough is soft. Form into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 20-30 minutes until dough is easier to handle.
• Remove dough from refrigerator and shape into 1 inch balls. Place on parchment lined baking sheet and flatten with your hand, about 1/4 inch thick and they are about 1 inch apart.
• Bake 20-22 minutes at 300F. Cool on wire rack. Once cooled, dip in dark chocolate and sprinkle with dried cranberries and walnuts (gently pressing into chocolate, if necessary).
• Place on wax paper lined sheet pan and let chocolate harden completely. To speed cooling/hardening of chocolate, place in freezer for about 10 minutes. Remove and enjoy!

Notes

You can melt the dark chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, heating for about 30 seconds or so at a time, stirring and mixing and heating for another 30 seconds until just melted.

Tried this recipe? That's awesome!Mention @dawn.girlheartfood or tag #girlheartfood!

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 154kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 35mg | Potassium: 64mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 4.8% | Calcium: 0.9% | Iron: 5.7%