Chocolate-Peppermint Shortbread Recipe (2024)

Watched Sohla's video before deciding to make this recipe—so glad I did! Of course, the look and description are winning, but the basic ingredients and prep clinched it. Solha's instructions are uncomplicated but precise. This is a great weekend at home recipe, and frankly, every day of this pandemic is a day at home. I wouldn't ding this recipe on prep time as three of the four hours are completely hands off. That time is spent coasting the meringue bake in the oven at a very low temp. Enjoy.

I would make this again, but cook the shortbread for a shorter time, the long bake with the meringue made the cookie a bit more crumbly that I would like.

Followed the recipe faithfully and the end result was really dry, really crumbly cookies that don’t cut well. Disappointed with the end result so I won’t take the time to make them again.

It’s way too salty using 3/4 teaspoon of Morton’s kosher salt. The recipe must be expecting you to use Diamond Crystal; 1/4 teaspoon is probably enough for Morton’s. The shortbread is very crumbly and the meringue doesn’t want to stay attached. The meringue layer is really good.

This was really great! I did read some of the comments and so I cooked the shortbread for 15 mins and the meringue for 1 hr 30 mins. It tastes delicious and looks beautiful.

Pretty easy recipe, but Step 9, the meringue never gets dry while baking. I kept in an additional 30 min to try for dry. Still never felt dry or crisp. Turned off oven and cooled as directed and finally got dry and crisp. When cutting the cookies the meringue cracked and completely separated from shortbread. Tastes great, but failed for xmas cookies to share. Too bad. Now I have to eat them all.

I have to agree it is too salty using Morton's kosher salt. 1/2 tsp would seem more reasonable. Not impressed with the shortbread it's self. After all the cooking it was chalky tasting and too crumbly.

For some reason, my meringue was hard after only an hour of baking, so I stopped it then! I think that prevented it from being as dry as other reviewers said. It’s crumbly but in a good way, at least to me!

I love shortbread cookies and I love that Sohla gave me a chocolate shortbread cookie! And you don’t have to add the peppermint to the icing... you can do whatever you want with it! this can be very versatile! Sohla always says do what works for you! That’s why I love watching her cook and I love her recipes! She always makes them so versatile that you can make it how you like it!! she just gives you a really good foundation! Thank you so much Sohla!!

Made these today; biscuit is far too dry and way too salty. The meringue topping worked well and was very tasty. Would not make these again; far too much effort for a mediocre treat.

Can this recipe be frozen?

The cookies were extremely dry and disappointing. I pulled the shortbread out 15 minutes early during the initial bake based on the comments of others. The end result was still super dry. I don’t think I would make this again- but if I did I would pull it out after 1 hr 40 min so the meringue would still be kind of chewy and not so hard.

The texture of the shortbread was really chalky and dry. I’d love to know if it was because of the temp of the butter - really room temp and not cold, or because I used King Arthur’s Double Dutch cocoa. I baked for only 30 minutes and at correct oven temperature. I had to scrap the meringue topping because the peppermint oil i used was overpowering even at 1/4 tsp. So I tried the shortbread before restarting the meringue recipe. I just didn’t like it and decided not to spend anymore time on it.

This didn't work for me. I followed the recipe faithfully - I even watched the awful video - and ended up with a dry, crumbly shortbread that resulted in a pile of crumbs and ragged pieces. I liked the meringue and the finished product tasted good, but I wasn't able to cut it into anything presentable even though I used a sharp knife and thoroughly cleaned it between cuts. For me, not worth the time and effort and I won't make it again.

Chocolate shortbread was disappointingly dry — a real shame because it smelled so good! Meringue also did not want to stay put on top of cookie. Won’t be making this again.

You can also substitute the meringue with white chocolate and add peppermint extract to the shortbread

Unfortunately the end result was very disappointing. I followed the recipe carefully, but the shortbread was chalky and very dry, almost inedible. The merengue had a nice taste, but was also a bit too chewy. I made this for a cocktail party and will not be serving this - may have been some unknown error on my part, but this was quite a bit of effort for a disappointing result.

Yeah, should have read the comments. Loads of labor for the same crumbly/dry result as othershere. Also, no point in the small amount you get (doubling did seem a good idea, but I was wary of wasting a lot of it did not turn out well). I’m a fan of crumbly shortbread and meringue so this is fine for the family, but not for giving to anyone, and I won’t make again.

These cookies were so bad that my boyfriend who usually eats anything didn't want them. Do not make. There are better ways to get your chocolate mint fix.

Looking at a lot of the tips, I solved the dryness of the shortbread cookie issue by baking the meringue separately on parchment paper. And then stuck together the shortbread and the meringue with a very thin layer of tempered chocolate. I also sprinkled the meringue with crushed candy cane prior to baking. 10 out of 10 would recommend.

honestly these slap. they’re drier than other cookies but that’s bc they’re shortbread!! the flavors are great and i love the texture of the meringue.

Warning- these are a ton of work, it’s impossible to make a neat cut on the meringue, and most of all they taste awful!!

Made this recipe exact. The shortbread was a bit dry but the meringue solves that issue. Watch the video, it’s very helpful.

I baked this cookie for my holiday cookie platter just to include variety, and this cookie turned out to be my absolute favorite! My only complaint is that the batch this produces is way to small---can this be doubled?

These are fairly labor intensive and are not worth the effort. The meringue would not harden fully and the shortbread did not have much taste and was crumby as other commenters have noted.

So taking all my fellow commenters’ advice, I made a few adjustments: cut the kosher salt in the chocolate layer to 1/4 tsp, baked it for 15 minutes, and I baked the meringue layer at 215 degrees for about half hour. The textures were perfect (not too crumbly or over baked) *but* the meringue cracked on cutting it, making it unserve-able. Oh well, guess I have a whole pan to myself!

I have made these twice and both times they looked beautiful out of the oven but shattered into crumbs when I tried to cut them.

I ruined 2 batches of meringue by adding the peppermint extract as instructed. They went from perfect peaks to completely flat and runny. Ultimately I opted to use crushed candy canes for the peppermint flavor.

The meringue layer is beautiful and tasty, but I would skip this recipe. The shortbread is so dry that I was embarrassed I had shared these with others. They lose the charm of the swirled top because the cookie disintegrates when you touch it. I even reduced the bake time from reviews above.

Cook shortbread for 15 min and merengue for 1.5