Oh. My. These are good. I’ve always been a sucker for shortbread. That buttery, dense, melt in your mouth-ness makes me swoon. This Churro Toffee Shortbread takes one of my favorite treats to the next level.
On my last Disneyland trip, I tried the cult-favorite Churro Toffee- its found at the bakeries + sweet shops around the park. Any Disney trip requires checking the Disney food blogs to see what I can’t miss! And Churro Toffee seemed to be a winner among all of them. So I finally tried it, and I can say – I totally get it now. Every bite had me floating around fantasyland. Buttery toffee, dipped in creamy white chocolate and dusted with churro cinnamon sugar. I was still dreaming about it for days afterwards, you guys.
I knew as soon as a tried the churro toffee that I had to create something that incorporated all of those flavors. So, I came up with this Churro Toffee Shortbread, and I’ll tell you- it’s as decadent as it is Disney. Sweet, buttery cookies sprinkled with toffee bits in every bite, dipped in rich white chocolate and dusted with – of course – the churro cinnamon sugar topping.
What you’ll Need:
- You’ll start with the shortbread. I used a traditional shortbread recipe that calls for unsalted butter, sugar, vanilla, flour, and salt.
- You’ll want to leave out your butter for at least an hour or two to bring them close to room temperature. This will help it combine thoroughly with the other ingredients and come together evenly.
- Toffee bits. I used the Heath bar toffee bits, that I found next to the chocolate chips.
- White chocolate wafers for melting + dipping. I used these ones from Ghirardelli that I’ve found at both target and my local grocery store. They are really easy to melt in the microwave, and make the perfect white chocolate coating for these cookies ( and strawberries, and pretzels, and anything else you might want to dip!)
- Lastly, you’ll need the cinnamon + sugar to give it that authentic Disney Churro flavor.
Looking for more sweet treats to whip up? Try my Baked Funfetti Cake Mix Donuts or my Loaded Valentine’s Cookies. Or if you want my all-time favorite cookie recipe? Check out my Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Tips to Make the Ultimate Churro Toffee Shortbrtead:
- Use room temperature ingredients. I know I mentioned it above, but seriously. This is the most helpful way to make sure that your dough is nice and cohesive.
- Measure your flour carefully. I made this mistake on my first go around, measuring while chatting on the phone and I must have missed a scoop of flour because they completely spread into a hot mess in the oven. It was a delicious disaster. So a friendly PSA: pay attention while you measure things, guys!
- You’ll cream the butter and sugar together with vanilla, then add the sifted dry ingredients. Your dough is going to be super crumbly. Like, so crumbly you’ll think there is no way this can be right. I promise it will eventually come together. It took me about two minutes of mixing on my lowest speed. There’s no egg to help things combine, but with some patience your dough will turn from looking like crumbs to looking like actual shortbread dough. Then, add the toffee bits and mix until combined.
- Set that ball of dough on a floured surface, and shape into a disc. Wrap with plastic wrap, and let chill for 30 minutes. Not 20, like I did in shortbread spread-gate (see measuring tip above). Then, roll out on floured work surface into 1/2 inch thick rectangle. It needs to be super thick, as this isn’t sugar cookie dough- you’ll notice there are no leavening agents that would cause this dough to rise. So 1/2 inch thick is a good dough thickness for this churro toffee shortbread.
- Next, you will use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to slice it up into 1 inch x 3 inch rectangles. Place them carefully on parchment lined cookie sheets and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.
What Makes this Churro Toffee Shortbread?
Once cooled, you’ll dip the shortbread cookies in melted white chocolate. You can follow the instructions on the bag to heat the white chocolate up. I microwaved mine at a low power for 30 seconds, then in 15 second intervals, stirring in between until it was completely melted.
Before they cool, dust them with churro powder ( 1/4 cup sugar + 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon). And then make sure to drop off a few pieces at my house. Please and thanks!
Let me know how this recipe turns out, and if you have any favorite disneyland treats that shouldn’t be missed!
Churro Toffee Shortbread
Ingredients
- 3/4 pound unsalted butter 3 sticks, at room temp
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour sifted
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 oz toffee bits
For Churro Toffee topping
- 10 oz melting white chocolate (not white chocolate chips)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Sift together flour and salt in medium bowl.
- In large bowl, cream together room temperature butter with sugar on medium speed until just combined. Add vanilla, and mix until combined again.
- Add flour mixture, one half at a time, and mix on low speed until combined. Dough will be very loose and crumbly. Mix until it comes together, which may take more time than you expect. It will look like crumbs at first, but will come together cohesively into a shortbread dough. Then, mix in toffee bits until combined.
- Place dough on lightly floured surface and pat into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Place dough on floured surface and roll into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle. Carefully slice into 1×3 inch bars using a pizza cutter or sharp knife.
- Place bars on parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges appear lightly golden.
- While cookies cool, melt white chocolate wafers according to package instructions. Stir together cinnamon and sugar in small bowl.
- Dip each cookie into white chocolate, then sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Let the topping set for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!