Perfectly crunchy vegan shortbread cookies. This small batch recipe contains just 4-ingredients and makes 8-9 shortbread cookies. Easy and insanely good!
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 base ingredient of all sorts of other cool desserts that I absolutely want to make. Like vegan twix bars (update: this is now made!) 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 cat babies (who funnily enough don’t like cookies), it would be a bit crazy to go making huge batches of things. Or not crazy at all, it depends on the day.
I even got adorable heart shaped cookie cutters for the job.
On the day of baking these our air conditioner died and since it was hot as heck, this was 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 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.
How To Make Vegan Shortbread Cookies
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
You simply add flour, sugar and salt to a mixing bowl, and then add in the vegan butter and rub it in with your fingers. Form it into a ball, flatten it out or roll it out on a flour dusted surface and cut out the cookies, and then bake.
The result? The crunchiest, most satisfying vegan shortbread cookies. Just about 8 or 9 of them.
Storing and Freezing
Keep your cookies stored in an airtight container at room temperature and enjoy within a week. They are also freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
More Vegan Cookies
- Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Lemon Cookies
- Vegan Thumbprint Cookies
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Small Batch Vegan Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour (125g)
- ¼ cup White Granulated Sugar (50g) plus more for rolling
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F (149°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. You can either use a rolling pin or your hands to flatten it out to around ½ inch thick. The dough is quite fragile, so if you use a rolling pin, you can roll and sort of press at the same time. Dust the top of the dough with flour so that the rolling pin doesn’t stick. Roll the cookies in more granulated 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 25-30 minutes* until lightly golden on top.
- Remove from the oven and allow them to cool and firm up directly on the tray before moving them.
Video
Notes
- Baking times: We have baked these cookies for up to 45 minutes for a wonderfully crunchy shortbread. But in some ovens this will be too long and they will burn. Also, if you have more than 8-9 cookies then your cookies will be thinner and may need an even shorter baking time. So keep an eye on them. But feel free to also bake them longer than the 25-30 minutes, while keeping a beady eye on them, if you like your shortbread super crunchy.
- Storing and Freezing: Keep your cookies stored in an airtight container at room temperature and enjoy within a week. They are also freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
- Recipe adapted from Epicurious.
Brittney Driver says
Hi, I made these last night with the vegan becel. The family loves them. I want to make more, can I sub with vegetable shortening?
Thanks for the great recipe!
Brittney
Anne says
Great recipe! This is my first year making all vegan Christmas cookies and this a keeper. I doubled the recipe and baked for 40 minutes. The smaller cutouts were done after 35minutes.
Alison Andrews says
Thanks for sharing Anne! So glad it worked out. Thanks for the wonderful review! 🙂
Amy DeBruyn says
Hello! I can’t wait to make these! Are you using the vegan butter cold or softened? Thanks! Amy
Alison Andrews says
Hi Amy, I use it straight from the fridge, since you rub it into the dough with your fingers, even if it’s very firm to start, it still works out just fine. 🙂
Marg Aitken says
I used rice flour & caster sugar vegan margarine – rolled into balls did finger well & placed cherry and or chocolate chips in middle- baked only 25 minutes – Delicious!
RCB says
Oh my! Every recipe you share is amazing! I just made these and yum! I had to add a smidge more butter, as my dough was a bit too dry…and they turned out amazing! Haven’t had shortbread since becoming Vegan 5 years ago, so what a treat indeed! (Only baked for about 40 mins…so keep an eye on them!) I make both your Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Raisin cookies all the time! Thank you so much….on the the Vegan Gingerbread Cookies next! Love you!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! So glad you loved the cookies! Thanks so much for the amazing review! xo
Kobie van Rensburg says
Used King Arthur Unbleached all purpose flour (I store it in my fridge, so it’s usually pretty dry), Miyoko’s cultured vegan butter and Dominos fine granulated sugar. I made a big square of the dough, about half inch thick and cut into 9 squares. Pressed each individual cookie to about ⅝ thick and rounded the corners and edges. Use ⅛ teaspoon salt because butter already contains salt. Baked 45 Minutes at sea level (Savannah, GA). Perfectly crunchy all the way through. Nice thin browned crust on bottom … absolutely divine. PS. Yep, taste exactly like ‘Eat some more”! Made me miss home in SA.
Alison Andrews says
Yay! So happy to hear they worked out great and reminded you of Eat Sum More too! Thanks so much for sharing and the wonderful review!
Allison says
We made them as per the recipe and I liked them, but strangely my daughter rejected them! Not good enough for Christmas she said! Fussy pants! I used Nuttelex Buttery for the Butter substitute which worked quite well. They had a soft crumbly temperature; but I wasn’t sure how accurate the cooking time was. I am definitely going to persist with a second batch and am thinking that almond essence might enhance these enough to make the cut … I would certainly recommend these to others, as I think these are a good starting point, and then you may want to tweak them slightly as desired.
Alison Andrews says
Hahaha, well you can’t please everyone! I definitely think you could tweak them more to your liking, thanks for sharing! 🙂
MM says
¡Pura vida! Made the recipe with yuca flour and raw sugar. I baked them in a firewood stove at my volcano cabin. Served them with coconut yogurt. Loving it vegan from Costa Rica!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for sharing and the great review! 🙂
Rob says
These worked so well! I used whole wheat flour because it was what I had, which gave them a slight WeetBix-ish flavour, but not in a bad way. They disappeared immediately.
Alison Andrews says
Thanks for sharing Rob! So happy they worked out well! 🙂
Mazoo says
Can’t wait to try the cookies tonight! But more importantly… That drink in the background looks delicious, like drinkable condensed milk. Do you have a recipe for the drink? Thanks!
Alison Andrews says
Hi! It’s just a glass of soy milk in the background. 🙂 But we do have a recipe for vegan condensed milk if you want to check it out. 🙂
Serena Leone says
Mine spread a lot in the oven. Is there something I could do differently please. Kind regards.
Alison Andrews says
You can chill the cookies in the fridge for an hour or so before baking if you don’t want any spread. I don’t really mind if they spread so to me it’s not needed, but if you want them to hold their shape very well, then chilling the dough (after you have already cut out your cookies) is the best way to do that.
Daphne Edwards says
I love shortbread and buy lorna doones. I used coconut oil instead of vegan butter and they came out delicious!
Cara says
Could you use anything as a substitute for vegan butter or margarine?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Cara, if you read the other comments, some have used coconut oil successfully. 🙂
samaya says
This really works
Alison Andrews says
Yay! Thanks Samaya! 🙂
Evelyn Turack says
Followed the recipe but for some reason my cookies almost burnt. They did not taste good at all. I made them a second time, this time only baking them for 30 minutes.
Alison Andrews says
Ovens can vary quite a lot, I would imagine that would have been the reason for the difference.
Miike Spence says
Dear Alison,
Can I baked these with a Gluten Free All Purpose Flour?
Alison Andrews says
Yes! I haven’t tried it myself, but other readers have noted that it worked great with gluten-free all purpose flour. All the best! 🙂