These vegan shortbread cookies are delicious and so tender they practically melt in your mouth. They're also super easy to make with only four ingredients!
Shortbread cookies are one of those sweets that are so simple, but so delicious. There's not a whole lot to these cookies. I mean, they're only made with four ingredients! But when they're done right, they're absolutely amazing.
What's shortbread done right, you ask? Perfect shortbread should be tender and buttery. They'll have a touch of vanilla flavor and be not too sweet. We're not going for sugar cookies here, which are a bit crispier and quite a bit sweeter. Butter is the star flavor of classic Scottish shortbread. Biting into a good one is absolutely heavenly.
These vegan shortbread cookies are about as good as it gets. They are everything a good shortbread cookie should be, and they're pretty easy to make too! A couple of simple swaps are all it takes to turn traditional shortbread cookies vegan, and a few hacks like using powdered sugar and chilling the dough will give these cookies the perfect texture.
Read on to learn how they're made.
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Ingredients You'll Need
- Vegan butter. Most supermarkets carry vegan butter near the regular butter. Earth Balance if my preferred brand for baking, as I find it gives the most consistent results.
- Powdered sugar. Make sure to use organic powdered sugar. Conventional powdered sugar may be processed using animal bone char, so it's not vegan.
- Vanilla extract.
- Flour. We're using all-purpose wheat flour, also known as white flour. Other varieties like gluten-free flour or whole wheat flour might work, but I haven't tested them with this recipe, so I can't guarantee good results.
Wondering why we use powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar to make vegan shortbread? Powdered sugar is super fine, so it gives our cookies a finer crumb and amazing delicate texture!
How They're Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Place room temperature vegan butter into a large mixing bowl, then use an electric mixer at high speed to beat it until creamy.
Add the powdered sugar to the bowl. Cream the butter and powdered sugar for a full two minutes. Briefly beat the vanilla into the mixture.
Tip: Ideally, you'll want to set your butter out for several hours to bring it up to room temperature before using it. Try this hack for softening butter if you forget. I've used it with good results!
Begin adding the flour to the mixture, a bit at a time, beating in each addition at low speed before adding more.
The dough should be soft and fluffy by the time you're done.
Move your shortbread dough to a lightly floured surface and use your hands to gently shape it into a rectangle. Wrap it up tightly in plastic and chill it for at lest an hour.
Tip: Prefer round shortbread cookies? Roll the dough into a log instead.
Slice your rectangle into thin slabs and arrange them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. For traditional shortbread, decorate the cookies by forming indentations in the tops. I find a chopstick is the best tool for this (a toothpick won't cut it!).
Tip: Does your dough feel too crumbly when you cut it? Or too squishy? Make sure you're measuring your dry ingredients right. Spoon flour or powdered sugar into a dry measuring cup, then level it off with a butter knife. Don't use the measuring cup to scoop ingredients from the bag.
Bake your vegan shortbread cookies until they're just beginning to brown on the bottoms. This change will be subtle, and they'll probably still look a little underbaked, but they're done! Place the baking sheets on wire racks and let them cool for a few minutes before transferring the cookies directly to the racks to finish cooling.
Tip: Let your cookies cool completely. Unlike other varieties of cookies like chocolate chip coookies, shortbread isn't great served warm.
Variations
- Decorate your vegan shortbread cookies with sprinkles or coarse sugar before baking.
- Dip your cooled shortbread in melted chocolate. Optionally, coat the chocolate dipped portion in finely chopped nuts (my favorite!).
- Gently fold some finely chopped nuts into your shortbread dough before shaping it into a rectangle. (Also check out my vegan pecan shortbread cookie recipe).
Shelf-Life & Storage
Vegan shortbread cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for about two weeks.
More Vegan Cookie Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegan butter, room temperature (Note 1)
- â…” cup organic powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Place the butter into a large mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer at high speed to beat the butter until creamy, about 1 minute.
- Add the powdered sugar. Cream the powdered sugar and butter using the mixer at high-speed for about 2 minutes, until creamy and pale yellow in color. Add the vanilla and beat until fully incorporated into the mixture.
- Begin beating the flour into the mixture at low speed, adding it in 3 or 4 increments, beating each just until fully incorporated.
- Transfer the cookie dough to a lightly floured surface and use your hands to shape it into a rectangle measuring 3 inches wide, by 1 inch in height, by 8 inches long. (Note 2)
- Carefully wrap the dough tightly in plastic and place it in the refrigerator. Chill the dough for at least one hour and up to 4 days.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Unwrap the cookie dough and cut it into about 24 slices. (Note 3)
- Arrange the slices on your baking sheets, separated by at least ½ inch. Optionally, use a chopstick to decorate the cookies by forming indentations in the tops. (Note 4)
- Bake the cookies just until you can see them starting to brown on the bottoms, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Remove the baking sheets from the oven and place them on cooling racks. Let the cookies cool for at least 10 minutes on the baking sheets before transferring them directly to the cooling racks to continue cooling.
Notes
- Most vegan butter is salted. If you happen to be using unsalted, add a pinch of salt to the recipe.
- If you prefer round shortbread cookies, roll the dough into a log, just under 2-inches in diameter.
- You can let the dough sit out for a few minutes if it's too hard to cut. Avoid letting it warm up too much though.
- If the dough has warmed up significantly while you were cutting and decorating the cookies, pop the baking sheets in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour before baking.
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These cookies were delicious! I subbed white (golden) whole wheat flour for the AP. My friends loved them and they were so easy to make! Thanks so much!