Chilli Shortbread Biscuits for Christmas: Why Not Hang on the Tree?

A number of factors combined recently leading to the creation of this recipe for hot! hot! hot! chilli shortbread biscuits. I can only describe these as a chilli lovers delight. Hang them on the tree or pack them up into a pretty box, tin or bag as a gift for those that like a bit of spice in their life. Either way, they’re bound to make a Christmas talking point. 

White Chocolate Shortbread

First off, this month’s We Should Cocoa theme is “cookies”. I’d already bookmarked a recipe in Miranda Gore Browne’s book Biscuit for ‘passionate chocolate hearts’, which is basically white chocolate shortbread with a passionfruit filling.

I decided to omit that filling as I wanted to create one using our last remaining persimmon.

In the end, however, I realised I had some leftover orange & white chocolate buttercream from my mother in law’s birthday cake. It was sitting in the fridge and in need of using up.

Cookie Cutters

Secondly, I’d recently been sent some Christmas cutters to try out, courtesy of Eddingtons, a supplier of all things kitchen. The cutters were all stainless steel and consisted of one set of three snowflake cutters and a set of three angel cutters in various sizes.

The Angel cutters came as a kit with red ribbon and a pin to make the all important holes for threading the ribbon.

White Chilli Chocolate

Lastly, the jewel in the crown was a half bar of Dartmoor Dragon. This is a powerful white chocolate bar containing Naga chilli from the Dartmoor Chilli Farm. Too hot to eat on its own, at least for CT and I, it makes an excellent addition to baked goods.

I found this out when I used it in the pastry for the persimmon tarts I made a couple of weeks ago. It packs a powerful punch, even when diluted by flour, butter and sugar.

Chilli Shortbread Biscuits

As I think I may have mentioned, there was no mistaking the kick in these chilli shortbread biscuits. Luckily, they’re also truly delicious.

Shortbread is probably our favourite type of biscuit and these didn’t disappoint. They were crisp on the outside and slightly chewy in the middle with a nice rich buttery flavour.

The angels sandwiched with buttercream, were slightly less hot and had the additional orange flavour for the full Christmas effect.

I’ve never made hanging biscuits before so I surprised myself with how effective they looked. Will they last until Christmas? No comment.

Other Shortbread Biscuits You Might Like

• Almond rye shortbread with whisky & raspberry cream
• Cacao nibs and pistachio shortbread
• Chocolate & cardamom shortbread biscuits
• Crystallised ginger shortbread biscuits
• Fresh flower shortbread cookies
• Hazelnut shortbread: a super easy bake

For more shortbread flavour ideas, I have four in this post for white chocolate shortbread biscuits.

Keep in Touch

Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these chilli shortbread biscuits, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.

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If you’d like more edible gift recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.

Choclette x

Chilli Shortbread Biscuits. PIN IT.

Chilli Shortbread Biscuits – The Recipe

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5 from 2 votes

Chilli Shortbread Biscuits

These biscuits are a sort of three in one or mix and match recipe. You can either make hanging decorations, cookies as gifts or biscuits sandwiched with orange buttercream. Or you can make all three. Perfect for Christmas, or just make different shapes for any other time of the year.

Cook ModeToggle to keep screen awake

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Resting Time45 minutes mins

Total Time40 minutes mins

Course: Afternoon Tea, Gift, Snack

Cuisine: British

Keyword: biscuits, chillies, Christmas, cookies, shortbread, white chocolate

Servings: 30 shortbread biscuits

Calories: 94kcal

Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

Ingredients

• 50 g white hot chilli chocolate
• 170 g unsalted butter cubed
• 85 g golden caster sugar plus a little extra for dusting
• 175 g flour (half plain, half wholemeal)
• 80 g brown rice flour
• 1 pinch rock salt
• orange buttercream (optional)

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

• Soften the chocolate by putting it in the mixing bowl and placing it on a heater for ten minutes or over a pan of hot water.
  50 g white hot chilli chocolate
• Add the butter cubed and leave for a couple of minutes to soften, but not melt.
  170 g unsalted butter
• Cream the butter and chocolate with the sugar until pale in colour and fluffy in texture.
  85 g golden caster sugar
• Add the dry ingredients.
  175 g flour, 80 g brown rice flour, 1 pinch rock salt
• Stir until everything is incorporated, then form into a ball with your hands and leave in a cold place to firm up for half an hour.
• Roll out on a floured board to about 3mm thickness.
• Stamp out shapes using whatever cutters grab your fancy. I made 12 largish snowflakes and 18 slightly smaller angels.
• Leave to firm up in a cold place for 15 minutes, then pop into a pre-heated oven (180°C) and bake for 10 minutes.
• For hanging decorations, make a whole in the top of each snowflake whilst they are still hot, by pushing in a narrow skewer or similar metal implement.
• Dust all of the snowflakes with sugar and half of the angels, (if making) then transfer to a wire rack to cool and harden.
• Sandwich the angels with orange buttercream, using the plain ones as a bottom and the sugared ones as a top.
  orange buttercream

Notes

If you can’t get hold of white chilli chocolate, just add ½ tsp hot chilli powder such as cayenne to the flour.

Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on exact ingredients used.

Nutrition Estimate

Calories: 94kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 13mg | Sodium: 4mg | Potassium: 14mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 142IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below letting us know how you got on and do share a photo on Instagram. Tag @choclette8 or use hashtag #tinandthyme.

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We Should Cocoa is being hosted this month by Rebecca of BakeNQuilt who has chosen cookies (or biscuits). So if you haven’t done so already, you still have three days left to get your entries in for any type of biscuit that includes some sort of chocolate.

These chilli shortbreads also fit very nicely with the festive theme of this month’s The Biscuit Barrel with Laura of I’d Much Rather Bake Than …, so a few of those are winging their way in that direction.

As the base recipe I used for this was bookmarked from Miranda Gore Brown’s book Biscuit, I am submitting this to Bookmarked Recipes with Jac of Tinned Tomatoes.

Using local produce where possible is something I have always tried to do. I usually manage to include local eggs, flour or milk in my bakes. This time in addition to Cotehele flour, I have used some chocolate bought from the Dartmoor Chilli Farm at a farmer’s market in Plymouth. So, I’m entering these biscuits into Shop Local over at Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary.

Brit Mums are doing a round-up of all things Christmassy for December, so I am sending these Christmas Snowflakes off to that too.

Thanks to Eddingtons for sending me the cookie cutters. Their products are widely available online and in cook shops and department stores. Thank you for your support of the brands and organisations that help to keep Tin and Thyme blithe and blogging.