If you have been around for any length of time, you know I love adding a pinch of salt to all my sweets. I love the flavour enhancement salt adds to any sweet flavours. So it was a no-brainer for me to make these shortbread cookies with sea salt.
They are actually inspired by some short bread cookies we picked up at a farmers market a few weeks ago in cute jar packaging. I loved how they were made bite sized so you could easily pop one in your mouth (which is also very dangerous because you can easily end up eating the whole jarful if you are not paying attention!).
So I decided to make my own version. I even made a jarful as a birthday treat for my brother! What do you think? Cute right?
Be warned though. These are addictively delicious!
Mini Shortbread Cookies with Sea Salt
Tiny bite sized cookies with a touch of chocolate chips and sea salt. Addictively delicious!
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature (or use salted and skip the salt)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)
- flakey sea salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
Prepare the Dough
- In a large mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars on medium-high speed until they become light and fluffy. About 3-5 minutes.
- Use a spatula to scrape down the sides, add the vanilla essence and salt and mix again.
- Slowly add the flour about 1/2 a cup at a time. Blending after each addition. Make sure to mix well so the flour is fully incorporated.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix to just blend. The dough should come together into a soft ball. It should feel like play-dough and have no pockets of flour.
- Split the dough in half. Place one half on a large piece of plastic wrap (about the size of your baking sheet). Roll the plastic wrap over the dough so it forms a log shape. Gently roll the dough using your hands so it becomes a long thin log. You many need to open and adjust the plastic wrap as you go. The idea is the make sure the roll is the right diameter for your desired cookies. I like them to be about 1 inch (3 cm) in diameter, or there abouts. Repeat for the other half of the dough.
- Make sure the ends of your logs are flattened and place in fridge for at least 2 hours to chill. These logs can also be refrigerated for up to 5 days or frozen for about 3 months for future cookie baking (Just let them defrost for about 15 minutes on the counter before moving on to baking).
Bake the Cookies
- Pre-heat oven to 350F (176C).
- Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Take out your chilled dough logs and unwrap them.
- Using a sharp knife, slowly slice through the log to cut into cookies about the thickness of your finger – about half an inch thick (1-2 cm). Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet. They do not need much room to expand, but make sure they are not touching each other. About 1 inch apart is plenty. Repeat for the second log.
- Sprinkle each cookie with flakey sea salt.
- Bake for 12 – 15 minutes. The edges will just start to turn golden, but the tops will not change colour much. Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes before eating them all!
Notes
This dough freezes beautifully. Just shape into a log and freeze for upto 3 months. Just make sure to defrost on the counter for 15-20 minutes before moving on to the next step for baking the cookies.
