We have a brand of shortbread cookie in South Africa called ‘Eat Sum More’. Cool name right? Not vegan though, sadly.
I knew I had to nail down a good recipe for vegan shortbread cookies because shortbread is the basis of all sorts of other cool desserts that I absolutely want to make! Like vegan twix bars and millionaire shortbread! Yum yum yum!
And this folks – is it! This small batch recipe for vegan shortbread cookies is the bomb diggity.
I love that it’s a small batch too because recipes that make like 3 dozen cookies are just not for me.
Considering the fact that it’s just me and Jaye and our two cat babies (who funnily enough don’t like cookies), it would be a bit crazy to go making huge batches of things.
I even got adorable heart shaped cookie cutters for the job.
On the day of baking these our air conditioner died and since we currently live in Dubai, this is quite a big deal.
As I was working with this cookie dough, the vegan butter that forms quite a large part of this recipe was melting inside the dough and making it really rather hard to keep the nice little heart shapes I was going for!
So if my heart shaped cookies look a little rough around the edges – this is why! It was about 100 degrees (or more) in my kitchen!
Nonetheless the end result was awesome. This recipe is super simple, being just 4 ingredients.
You simply add some flour, sugar and salt to a mixing bowl, and then you add in the vegan butter and rub it in with your fingers. Then your form it into a ball, and then flatten it out on a flour dusted surface and cut out the cookies, and then bake on low heat for 45 minutes (don’t worry, I’ll provide a few more details in the actual recipe section 
)
The result? The crunchiest, most satisfying vegan shortbread cookies. Just about 8 or 9 of them.
I think you’re going to love these shortbread cookies, they’re:
- Perfectly crunchy
- An ideal small batch
- Just 4-ingredients
- Super easy
- Insanely good!
Absolutely ideal to have with a cup of tea or coffee for an afternoon snack or as dessert.
So what do you think of these vegan shortbread cookies? Let me know in the comments!
If you’ve made them, let me know how they turned out!
And if you happen to put any pics on instagram please tag me #lovingitvegan so I can see them too!
Thank you!
- 1 cup (125g) All Purpose Flour
- ¼ cup (50g) Sugar
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ½ cup (112g) Vegan Butter/Margarine
- Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
- Sift the flour and add it to a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and salt and mix together.
- Then add the vegan butter, rubbing it in with your fingers. It will first be crumbly and then gradually will form into cookie dough.
- Form the cookie dough into a ball and then flatten it out on a flour dusted surface and cut out some cookies. Roll the cookies in sugar and place onto a parchment lined baking tray.
- Roll the remaining dough into a ball again and flatten out again, cutting out more cookies and then repeat.
- At the end you'll cut out your final cookie, and whatever's left won't be enough for a last cookie, so just roll into a small ball, roll it in sugar and add it to the baking tray as a bonus cookie.
- You should have around 8-9 cookies.
- Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.
- After 45 minutes, remove from the oven and allow them to cool for around 30 minutes before eating.
Can’t wait to make this recipe with my little girl and I love the heart-shaped idea too. Thank you this looks so good!
Sure! Hope you enjoy baking them! 🙂
This looks so yummy and wonderful…and the best part – easy! I was wondering if you can use coconut butter in place of the vegan margarine?
I don’t know – it might work out great or it might not. If you try it, please let us know how it turned out! All the best!
Great simple recipe for surprise guests…
Which vegan butter do you use? I found that some of them were too salty for baking. Thank you for your great recipes!
Hi Lisa, I’m currently using an Australian brand called Nuttelex, but I would generally use whatever is available which depending on where I am in the world, there may not be too many options. 🙂 You’re very welcome! Glad you like the recipes!
If I use coconut sugar instead of refined sugar do you know if these would still work out okay?? I usually susbstitute the sugar when I bake and everything works out but these cookies might be different so I just wanted to double check. Thank you 🙂
I think it should be fine, and if it affects anything, it might just affect the color of the cookies when they’re baked as coconut sugar is darker in color. I can’t be completely sure, as I haven’t tried this, but I would guess it would be an easy swap.
Oh my gosh, my daughter made these for Christmas this year and they are the best shortbread cookie Ive ever had! She made some plain which were a flaky, buttery, sweet, shortbread to die for as well as some she added cranberries to which were just as amazing. Everyone in the family agrees these are a favorite cookie for sure. Ill be making these a lot, Thank you.
Great! So glad they came out well! The cranberry addition sounds like a great idea! 🙂
I made these last night and they were perfect! I used earth balance as my butter and I rolled them in cinnamon and sugar. I just made little balls that were approximately 1tbs and I smashed them into rounds. I made about 12 small cookies, soo yum!
That’s great Amanda! Glad to hear! 🙂
Me and my 3 year old just made these and we love them! They taste great! We made them in the size and shapes of animal crackers and alphabets! Took a little longer but they are super cute!
Yay! That sounds awesome Jaime!
I tried using coconut oil instead of margarine or vegan butter (because I did not have any of them at home at that moment) and it did not work, so next time I’ll try the vegan butter.
Hi Erika, thanks for posting, it’s good to know that coconut oil doesn’t work as a substitute.
Hi there, can I just confirm the 45 minutes cooking time? Seems alot for cookies so wanted to double check. Thanks
Yes, it’s right. It is much longer than usual for cookies, but it’s because it’s done at a low heat.
Brilliant thank you very much! My husband and I have had trouble following vegan baking recipes online, because they’ve obviously not been recipe tested, but all the one’s we’ve tried from your site have been exactly as you have described. Just wanted to say thank you for all your recipes and the work you do.
That is so wonderful to hear – thank you so much! 🙂
That’s quite alright. I am chronically ill so wasting time and energy (and money!) On recipes that don’t work is a huge pain in the bum, so I very much appreciate someone taking the time to be thorough. Hopefully I’ll be making these shortbread soon with my husband or carer, excited!
Hello! Would you please verify this is granulated sugar (rather than powdered sugar)? I just want to make sure before I mess something up. Thanks!
Yes! Regular granulated sugar. 😊