Chocolate Orange Shortbread Cookie Sticks
Soft and buttery orange ginger shortbread cookie sticks, drizzled with chocolate and sprinkled with crystallized ginger.
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Equipment
- Food Processor or Pastry Cutter
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tsp freshly grated orange zest
- ¾ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp whole milk
- ¼ cup semi sweet chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp chopped candied/crystallized ginger or candied orange peel
Instructions
Make the Cookie Dough
- In your food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, orange zest, ginger and salt until combined.
- With the processor running, drop in the pieces of butter, one at at time, pulsing a few times until the butter is evenly distributed, and the dough is moistened and crumbly.
- Add the vanilla and the milk, then process until the dough starts to stick together.
- Dump the dough out onto a clean counter and use your hands to finish bringing the dough together, kneading in any stray bits of flour. The dough should be soft, smooth and supple.
- Shape the dough into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Roll and Cut the Dough
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, place the disk of dough, and dust the top of the dough with flour, too. Roll out into an oval or rectangle measuring 1/2 inch thick and about 4 1/2 inches wide.
- Use a sharp knife, bench scraper or pizza cutter to cut the edges even, then cut into sticks measuring 1/2 inch wide each. Gather up the scraps of dough, roll them out again, and continue cutting as many cookie sticks as you can. You should get around 18.
- Carefully transfer the cookie sticks to the baking sheet, spacing them about an inch apart.
- Place the baking sheet with the cut cookies in the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes. Chilling the cut cookies helps to ensure they don't spread and hold their shape perfectly while baking.
Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake the chilled cookies for 12 minutes. The tops should be a very pale golden with no dark browning, and you should see tiny flaky layers around the edges.
- Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the pan, then very gently transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely before icing. Shortbread cookies are delicate when warm, so handle with care. It's best to pick up cookie sticks at the middle, rather than by their ends.
Drizzle with Chocolate
- Melt the chocolate, then scrape the melted chocolate into a disposable piping bag. Snip off a small amount from the tip.
- Pipe the melted chocolate over the top of the cookies. Sprinkle with the candied ginger before the chocolate sets and hardens.Baker's Note: I do not recommend dipping these cookies in melted chocolate. With their delicate texture and long shape, shortbread cookie sticks are more susceptible to breaking during the dipping process.
- Let the chocolate harden completely before storing the cookies.
Notes
- Making the Dough without a Food Processor: If you don't have a food processor, you'll need a large bowl and a pastry cutter. In the bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Scatter with the cold butter pieces and use the pastry cutter to cut the butter in until very finely cut and evenly distributed. Drizzle with the vanilla and milk, then use your hands to work the liquid into the dry ingredients until it forms into a soft dough.
- Storing the Baked Cookies: The baked cookies should be cooled completely then stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days. If you won't be frosting and decorating them immediately, freeze the cookies in an airtight container for 3-6 months.
- Freezing the Dough: To make the dough in advance, wrap the disks of dough in plastic wrap, label them, and refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze for 3-6 months. Frozen dough should be thawed overnight in the refrigerator. Then take the dough out of the fridge about 1 hour before you're ready to roll out the dough. It should still be cool to the touch when you roll it out, but pliable enough to roll without too much difficulty.
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