Vegan Shortbread Cookies

Melt-in-the-mouth Vegan Shortbread Cookies! They need just four ingredients -- flour, vegan butter, vanilla and sugar -- and they come together in minutes. Nut-free and soy-free recipe.

You might also like these recipes for vegan lemon shortbread cookies and vegan French shortbread cookies.

Making the perfect vegan shortbread cookie

Classic Scottish shortbread is Desi's favorite cookie, so when I created this vegan shortbread cookie recipe, I wanted to make sure it was the best shortbread ever. Period.

A good shortbread has to be perfectly buttery and perfectly tender. It should be a firm cookie to the touch, but when you bite into it, it should melt in your mouth.

Here are my best tips for achieving that result:

• Make sure the vegan butter is at room temperature because you want it to bind the flour -- remember, there's no liquid in this recipe.
• Beat the sugar and the butter until they're thoroughly mixed. Once you add the flour, you want to keep any mixing to a minimum.
• Add the vanilla. While not a classic shortbread ingredient, I think it gives vegan shortbread -- which is not made with real butter -- more of a buttery flavor.
• After you add the flour to the butter-sugar-vanilla mixture, all at once, make sure you mix it with the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, or with a fork, for just a few seconds just until the dough comes together. Some crumbly bits remaining in the bowl are fine, you can gather them up by hand.
• DON'T roll out the shortbread dough. I cannot emphasize this enough. This is not a sugar cookie. Overhandling your dough will only result in the cookie getting tougher. Instead, press the dough into your pan using your fingers. Then lay a sheet of parchment on top of the pressed dough and gently smooth it to even the top.
• Don't forget to prick your shortbread dough all over with a fork to help them bake evenly, and to give them a pretty, classic shortbread-y look.
• Bake the shortbread at a low temperature for a longer time. This recipe requires 35 minutes in the oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
• The shortbread bakes in one piece, like a cake, so be sure to cut it into individual cookies as soon as it comes out of the oven. If you wait too long, it will firm up and will be difficult to cut. Proceed to cool the cookies on a rack before eating.

Ingredients

• Unbleached all-purpose flour (not whole wheat flour, not pastry flour, not cake flour).
• Vegan butter. Use butter sticks, homemade or store bought.
• Pure vanilla extract. Be sure to use the good stuff.
• Powdered (confectioners') sugar. It's critical to use powdered sugar in shortbread for the perfect texture. Granulated sugar does not have the time to melt and would also change the mouth-feel of the cookie.

You don't need salt because I find that vegan butters tend to be salty, but if you have to add it, add no more than ¼ of a teaspoon.

These are divine just plain, but if you want to dress them up, you can dip them in melted chocolate, sandwich some jam between two cookies, or even slather on icing.

More vegan cookie recipes

Recipe card

Vegan Shortbread Cookies

Melt-in-the-mouth Vegan Shortbread Cookies that you'll be making again and again for family and friends -- and yourself. These need just four ingredients -- flour, vegan butter, vanilla and sugar -- and they come together in minutes. Nut-free and soy-free recipe.

5 from 16 votes

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16 shortbread cookies

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 35 minutes mins

Ingredients

 

• 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 16 tablespoon vegan butter
• 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Butter two 9-inch cake tins and line the bottoms with parchment paper, and then butter the parchment paper as well. This will make it much easier to get the shortbread out of the pan.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl, beat together the sugar, butter and vanilla until fluffy.
• Add all of the flour at once and, using the paddle attachment on your stand mixer at medium-high speed, or with a fork, mix together just until the dough comes together.
• Gather any crumbly bits into a ball of dough, then divide the dough into two. Using your fingers, gently press in each ball of dough into the prepared cake pan. The parchment can make this a little difficult because it tends to slide, but be patient. Once the dough is in the pan, you can smooth it out by laying a sheet of parchment temporarily on top and smoothing with your fingers. Once the dough has been smoothed, press holes into the dough using the tines of a fork in a decorative pattern. Repeat for the other ball of dough in the other cake tin.
• Place both cake tins in the oven and bake for 35 minutes until the top is lightly golden and the edges are a deeper gold.
• Remove the tins from the oven and immediately turn the cookie out on a chopping board. Do this in a swift motion so the cookie doesn't break -- remember, it's still quite soft at this stage.
• Use a pizza wheel or knife to cut the cookie into wedges. You can cut each circle into 8 really large cookies, or 12 smaller ones.
• Transfer the cookies to a rack and cool thoroughly before eating.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1cookieCalories: 188kcalCarbohydrates: 19gProtein: 2gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 1mgPotassium: 17mgFiber: 1gSugar: 7gCalcium: 2mgIron: 1mg

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Author: Vaishali · Holy Cow Vegan

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