Baking Alison Roman’s New York Times Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies

There is something particularly magical about a batch of cookies finished at golden hour. You walk into the kitchen, and they’re sitting on the stove to cool. Your senses are tingling, maybe a little drool is happening, and you smell rich butter and decadent chocolate. ooooooh. Ok, so baking is one of my favorite cozy hobbies. I know that for many, it is much debated whether or not it is cozy. I’ve been frantic about baking before, trust me. Still, I prefer baking over cooking any day. For me, it feels like less pressure, baking is a bonus, it usually isn’t the main feast, and if things go downhill, it’ll be alright.

I love to bake, but I am by no means a professional or even close to the realm of home bakers who make it on the Great British Bake Off and can come up with a showstopper. Be that as it may (how do we feel about this phrase? I never used it, testing it out), I bake frequently. Baking during my lunch breaks at work, especially during the pandemic, allowed me to ground myself. The mindfulness and attention that baking requires always puts me in a space of focus, enough that my brain isn’t wandering and worrying, but I’m still relaxed. 

I’ve baked Alison’s New York Times Salted Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies about five or six times this year, and I really enjoy making and, more importantly, eating them. You can find the recipe on NYT Cooking here or on Alison’s page directly for free here.  It’s a relatively easy and quick dough without extra steps like browning butter or making a sauce.

It’s a top-rated recipe that I didn’t hear about until searching for shortbread cookie recipes, but it has nearly 13,000 votes and a five-star rating. And as I just googled, it has tons of “internet-breaking” YouTube videos about it. Seems like I missed the viral party in 2019! As with most NYT Cooking recipes, there are plenty of comments/community notes about how folks adjust, make better, or do without.  After several batches and mixing it up occasionally, I like the recipe as is. I would not adjust a thing for the time and return on investment, but I will give you my experience and reflection. 

ingredients & baking

The recipe yields 24 cookies and calls for a lot of salted butter over two sticks. Salted instead of unsalted makes a massive difference to me, especially if you’re not heavy-handed on the flaky sea salt at the end. I mostly prefer the salty, sweet flavor enveloped instead of the bite of salt when you sink your teeth into the cookie, but I know that putting flaky sea salt on top makes it look fancier and has that wow feel in the first bite. I would also get fatty butter –  80% butterfat and up, croissant-worthy butter. With so much butter in it, it’s worth the splurge. 

The recipe also calls for six ounces of semisweet or bittersweet dark chocolate. I’m sticking to semisweet chocolate, and I’ve even tried milk chocolate. I don’t usually reach for bittersweet; I don’t think it’s a fan favorite with my partner or family. The cookie isn’t very sweet in general, so it works out. The only other noteworthy thing about this recipe’s ingredients is demerara sugar, used to roll in at the end. I adore this addition. The crunchy, crispy edges make for such a wonderful texture for this cookie. I’ve also done this using turbinado sugar, which is similar; it’s just a little finer and a little stronger in molasses taste, but not by much. 

I always prep all my ingredients out into little bowls or mise en place like I’m on a TV show, primarily for ease, but also, sometimes things move really quickly, and I don’t realize I should’ve precut the chocolate eight steps ago. For this recipe, it wasn’t bad at all; it was just a few bowls. I use my stand mixer to make this, which comes together in a pinch. Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla, add the flour, then chocolate chunks, and bam—a dough. It has the texture of Play-Doh, which 100% makes it that much more fun to roll into two logs and then let it chill for two hours to firm. Add egg and roll it in the demerara sugar when it’s out.

Now, here’s the hard part. 

Ok, this is not that challenging, but to me, this part of the recipe requires a little more attention. No matter how many times I make this recipe or how large or small I cut the chocolate chunks, I cannot cut these logs into 24 nice-looking cookies without some falling apart. The dough is starting to soften as it’s out of the fridge, and I don’t want it lying around too long, so there’s a slight sense of urgency that makes me want to cut it somewhat quickly and well… yeah. But the dough is forgiving; you can mash them back together. I’m not the gentlest with this, and a few tend to come out wonky.

The NYT recipe says to use a serrated knife and saw through the chocolate when you hit it. But with the dough cold and firm from chilling, it is not as firm and solid as the chocolate, so I am left with a split cookie I need to piece together. This isn’t terrible, and it’s nitpicking a solid recipe, but I think a very sharp kitchen knife works better to get a clean slice than the sawing option. 

When I try this with store-bought chunks like these, I find they slice easier but don’t give you the nice mixed look of chocolate shards or melt the same. PJ Hamel of King Arthur Baking Company says in a blog post that with solid chocolate, you have more flexibility in the balance of sweetness. Cutting yourself allows for better control, and solid chocolate is usually better quality. 

It bakes at 350 F for just 12 to 15 minutes. I’m usually on the earlier end of that range, and voila—gorgeous, delicious shortbread cookies. 

eating & Sharing

These go in my house incredibly fast, which is hilarious because I only live with my partner and cats. I have given these to my family, and they devour them. It is officially in the vault of requests I get from my family to bake.

The cookies are buttery and flaky, rich and crumbly. It’s such an easy cookie to love and eat plenty of. They feel fancy and sophisticated, and I can imagine adding citrus to this or another bright flavor just to have an additional recipe with this foundation, but they are perfect.

They are crispy and tender enough to enjoy a dip in milk (or eggnog during the holidays) but are fine without it. I am adding these to my holiday cookie rotation. This recipe certainly feels mature as a person who grew up on really sweet and sugary snacks. The swap of chocolate chips for chocolate chunks, the flaky salt, and demerara sugar. Every time I make these, they come out of the oven, and I go, “Oooh, fancy.” 

I’m grateful to have stumbled on Alison’s recipe despite missing the viral boat. The cookies are simple enough to prep on a weeknight, but the flavor and depth deliver much more than expected. Like other cookie recipes, this dough is a fabulous shortbread base, and I’ll be experimenting with different flavors and keeping this in my recipe book.