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Why You’ll Love My Recipe
The recipe for these dairy-free shortbread cookies has been years in the making! They bake up light and airy, and taste so close to regular whipped shortbread that Mr. Magpie and my daughter can’t tell the difference!
These vegan shortbread cookies came about because the older I get, the more friends that I have with food allergies or intolerances. They’re not alone—I wound up with an adult-onset broccoli allergy, and I’m sure that there are some of you out there that have adult-onset allergies as well! Honestly, dairy seems to be one of the worst culprits out there! While these dairy-free cookies aren’t exactly the same as my regular whipped shortbread cookies, they’re so delicious that you and your guests won’t feel like you’re giving anything up!
Reader Review
I made this recipe with bob’s one to one gluten free flour. While I couldn’t form round balls, my cookie ‘mounds’ still tasted great. My family loved it! We have multiple allergies in our family so I was excited to try the becel sticks. Your recipe was the perfect one to start with. Thank you for the recipe!
Karlynn’s Recipe Notes
- Skill Level: These cookies are easy to make and perfect for a potluck or office party, especially if you have friends, family, or coworkers with allergies to dairy!
- Total Time: You can have a batch of these cookies ready in about 40 minutes!
- Variations: You can top your whipped shortbread with sprinkles, candied fruits, or press a little divot into the tops of each mound and use a variety of vegan jellies to make adorable thumbprint cookies! When looking for vegan jelly and jam, check to make sure they’re set with pectin (many of Smucker’s jellies and preserves are vegan)!
- Tools For This Recipe: You will need a large baking sheet, mixing bowls, an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer, and a cookie scoop to make this recipe! A cookie scoop is helpful because this cookie dough is too light and fluffy to form into balls—though you could also use a cookie press if you’re feeling fancy!
What You’ll Need for Ingredients
“Vegan” Butter: Vegan butters are made by combining water with plant-based oils, like coconut, olive, rapeseed, almond, shea butter, avocado oil, or a combination of a few different types. It’s important to note that not all margarine is vegan, as some manufacturers add milk-based or animal-derived ingredients to improve taste and texture, so make sure you’re checking the ingredients list. Additives like whey, lactose, casein, marine oil, suet, lecithin, animal fat and tallow are all non-vegan friendly ingredients. I suggest using Becel’s Plant Butter in this recipe, because it’s the best butter alternative I’ve tasted—and baked with—in years! Just make sure to get your plant-based butter in stick or block form, rather than in a tub.
How To Make Vegan Shortbread Cookies
This is a quick overview of the recipe. The full list of ingredients & complete step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Preheat your oven to 300°F. Whip the Becel and icing sugar together until well combined and creamy.
- Add the flour in small amounts and mix together slowly until well incorporated, then whip at a higher speed for 3-4 minutes, until very fluffy.
- Using a small cookie scoop, scoop dough balls out onto an un-greased baking sheet and top each scoop of dough with dairy-free sprinkles or a piece of candied fruit.
- Bake your cookies for about 30-35 minutes; your goal is more to dry out the dough and make the flour safe to eat than it is to brown your cookies.
Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Vegan Shortbread Cookies
- Check The Ingredients: Not all icing sugar/powdered sugar/confectioner’s sugar is vegan, but Red Path Sugar is for sure! Some companies use bone char (often listed as ‘natural carbon’) in their manufacturing process, so make sure to check if you’re worried! If it’s just the dairy content that you’re worried about, however, then you have less to worry about.
Storage Instructions
Once cooled, you can keep your cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Freezer: If you want to make and store the dough in advance, dish out your cookies into scoops on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for 1-2 hours, or until solid. Once frozen, you can transfer your dough mounds to a freezer safe container and store for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to bake them, remove the desired number of cookies from the freezer and place them on your baking sheet, then allow them to thaw for 10-15 minutes before topping them as desired and baking them as instructed.
More Delicious Dairy-Free Recipes
- Give my Vegan Buttercream Icing recipe a try for a light, perfectly sweet, and delicious dairy-free topping for all kinds of cakes!
- My Dairy Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are a great choice for an everyday sweet treat!
- You just have to try my recipe for Frosty Vegan Caramel Chocolate Truffle Squares! It’s dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan!
Nobody should have to miss out on festivities just because they can’t have dairy! The holidays are a time of the year when everyone can come together and bond over goodies—it’s just not fun if someone gets left out because of a dietary requirement!
Give these cookies a try and let me know if your family could tell they weren’t made with creamery butter in the comments below!
Happy Baking!
Karlynn
Vegan Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup Becel Plant Based Spread, in stick or block form, not a tub
- ½ cup icing sugar/powdered sugar , dairy free, but check each brand to make sure it has no animal byproducts
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 300 °F. Whip the Becel and icing sugar together well. Once it looks all deliciously creamy, resist from eating it by the spoonful, and get your flour ready.
- Start the mixer and slowly add in the flour, until it has all been added in. Then you can proceed to let your mixer do all the work for you and whip it for 3-4 minutes. You are wanting lighter than air shortbread here. These whip up faster than normal butter.
- Using a small cookie scoop, scoop the dough out onto an un-greased baking sheet.
- Top with daity free sprinkles or a piece of Christmas cherry.
- Bake them in a 300 °F degree oven for about 30-35 minutes; you want to dry out the shortbread in essence, not bake it, thus the low temperature. (If you have a warm kitchen or live in a warm climate, cool the cookies in the fridge then bake. They won't flatten out).
Notes
- Some powdered sugars use bone char in their process, check with each company to see for full vegan, not just dairy free
- Make sure you get the sticks or the block form, not a soft spread in a tub when it comes to the Becel.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Stephanie says
I made this recipe with bob’s one to one gluten free flour. While I couldn’t form round balls, my cookie ‘mounds’ still tasted great. My family loved it! We have multiple allergies in our family so I was excited to try the becel sticks. Your recipe was the perfect one to start with. Thank you for the recipe!
Liz says
Could you use a cookie press for these