My chocolate orange shortbread is beautiful and buttery, bursting with vibrant orange zest and rich dark chocolate. So good, you won’t be able to stop at just one!
Living in the UK, cups of tea (or “brews”, as we often call them!) are a necessary part of life! In the winter months especially, I can often be found with my hands wrapped around a mug of hot tea to warm my hands up. I get cold. A lot. But brews help!
Tea time treats
But there’s more. For me, especially with a mid-afternoon brew, I like to enjoy a little snack too. Perhaps some homemade custard creams, snickerdoodle cookies or even these adorable crinkle cookies.
Of course, being in the UK, shortbread is a really popular choice too! If you remember, I shared with you how I make shortbread with my kids. Simple shortbread with vanilla and plenty of hundreds and thousands. What’s not to like??
Anyways, my chocolate orange shortbread is a firm favourite with us too. Funnily enough, these and my chocolate orange cookies are even enjoyed by my non-chocolate-orange-loving hubby! They must be pretty good!! 😉
I’ve actually avoided making these using Terry’s chocolate orange, mostly because they’re not always easily available year round, but more at Christmas. This shortbread will give you the beautiful hit of chocolate orange without needing to run around town trying to find some!
I promise though, these are absolutely heavenly! If you love chocolate orange, you NEED these in your life!!
And don’t forget to share the love! 🥰
Happy baking, friends x
Recommended equipment and ingredients I used *
| Handheld mixer | Cookie cutters |
| Zester | Mixing bowl |
Chocolate Orange Shortbread
8-10
servings1
hour10
minutes15
minutes345
kcal1
hour25
minutesButtery shortbread, zesty orange and rich dark chocolate. Yum!
Keep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
100 g (½ cup) caster sugar
1 large orange, zest only
200 g (¾ cup + 2 tbsp) unsalted butter, cubed at room temp
300 g (1¾ cups + 2 tbsp) plain (all purpose) flour
100 g (½ cup + 1 tbsp) dark chocolate chips plus extra for drizzle (optional)
Directions
- Tip your sugar into a large mixing bowl. Zest the orange directly into the bowl with the sugar, then mix briefly to combine. Add in your butter and beat until completely softened and slightly fluffy.
- Sift in the flour and add in the chocolate chips. Beat again until your mixture starts to form large clumps.
- Tip your mixture out onto your work surface and gently squeeze to bring the dough together. Once your dough has come together, lightly flour your work surface, then place the dough on and lightly flour the top of it. Using a rolling pin gently flatten and roll out to about 1cm thickness. Stamp out circles (see note below) and place on a baking tray. Chill your dough for an hour.
- When your dough has been chilling for 45 minutes, turn your oven on to 160C/320F to preheat it. If you wish, you can sprinkle a little extra sugar on top of each shortbread biscuit before you bake. Bake the biscuits for 13-15 minutes until the edges feel firm and the middle is still slightly soft when pressed gently. Cool on your tray for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- As an optional decoration, melt the extra chocolate and drizzle over the top of each biscuit, then finish with an extra grating of orange zest.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Zesting your orange directly into your mixing bowl means you get not just the zest, but any oils that come off the fruit too. It means more flavour for your shortbread!
- Mixing the sugar with the zest first allows the orange flavour to be evenly and thoroughly combined with the sugar, so making for more flavourful shortbread. Yum!
- If you don’t have a circle cutter, you can use an upturned glass too. Or just cut into wedges, squares, whatever you want! I like them as circles, so have shared this way with you 😊
I usually dont go for shortbread as I find it dry and chalky but this really wasn’t.
This recipe is lovely and moist and the orange doesn’t overpower either!
Thanks Jon, so pleased you enjoyed them!
We really enjoyed making these, although need to remember extra chocolate for drizzling next time
Great to hear you enjoyed these, thanks for commenting 😊
Delicious and easy recipe too. Addition of the orange zest really adds to the biscuit and an instant hit with my OH who just adores Terrys Chocolate Orange. Made these as a welcome gift too as so yummy.
Easy to follow recipe, super tasty shortbread! Have made several times already and will most definitely make again.
Thanks so much Jade, I’m so glad to hear you’ve enjoyed my recipe! 😊
Such a delicious shortbread! Its buttery taste goes so well with fresh orange and bitter chocolate. Perfect combination!
Thank you Julia! 💕
This is a fabulous recipes. So delicious! I will be making this a lot! Thank you for sharing!