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.
Looking forward to making these! 🙂 How soft does the butter need to be?
It doesn’t need to be soft because you use your fingers to massage it into the flour/sugar/salt combo anyway. 🙂
I just made a batch, added cardamom and some turmeric and made tiny little flowers, about 1.5 inches, still nice and thick. Baked for about 20-23 min, turned out spectacularly. Will keep as a base for other flavors, want to try rose next.
Sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing Angie!
So simple and delicious! Formed a really lovely dough and the finished shortbread had the perfect texture. We used solid Stork as our Vegan butter which made the dough nice and easy to handle. We’ll be making more to use for tiffin soon!
Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
This is the easiest and tastiest shortbread I’ve ever had! I doubled up and made twice the amount and they lasted no time in our house. I’m gonna put some chocolate chips in the next batch, I haven’t had chocolate chip shortbread for 4 years! Thank you ❤️
That’s awesome Jan! Thanks so much for sharing!
I just made these for the first time. So easy to make and perfectly light & airy! As mentioned, time will vary depending on the shape so keep an eye on the cookies during the last 15 minutes of baking.
Thanks Amanda!
Made these last week with my 4 year old son on our Christmas baking day. It’s the first vegan shortbread recipe that has worked for me. They taste like the real thing, if not better! I used the baking version of Pure. Once baked they didn’t have an aftertaste of oil which can happen with other vegan spreads. They were crumbly but firm. We ended up having about 12 with a good thickness, like regular shortbread. So glad I found this recipe and that I didn’t have to miss out on shortbread this Christmas ???? Thank you Alison x
Awesome Rani! Thanks so much for the wonderful review.
Made these last week with my son on our Christmas baking day. It’s the first vegan shortbread recipe that has worked for me. They taste like the real thing, if not better! So glad I found this recipe and that I didn’t have to miss out on shortbread this Christmas ???? Thank you Alison x
I’ve made these twice already with my three year old daughter and they were so easy to make and tasted delicious! We all loved them! We’ve taken some to friends and family also, and nobody could tell the difference being vegan. I do think that if you roll them thicker they become more short, so more true to the texture/taste.
I was wondering if we could add dark chocolate chunks/chips to this recipe?
So glad you enjoyed them Sevi! I think chocolate chips or chunks would work! All the best!
I must have done something wrong (using GF flour? Coconut sugar? No telling…) because the dough was more like goop, so I had to refrigerate it just to be able to shape it, and then they spread in the oven into crunchy discs that don’t taste so great. I’ll have to try again!
Hi Paige, these weren’t tested with either GF flour or coconut sugar so either of those could cause the issue.
Hi – how long will these keep? Xx
Up to a week in an airtight container at room temp. 🙂
Love these delicious cookies!! I used them in the chocolate tiffin recipe and they’re great!
Thanks so much Joyce!
Can you share your recommendation for the best vegan butter spread? I’ve tried a few including Earth Balance and I find the taste just isn’t right for baked goods. Would love to try these if I knew I could find a spread that worked for others!
Hi Kim, I have used a lot of different brands and we also have a recipe for homemade vegan butter. I liked Earth Balance as well when I used it, so it might just be a case of finding one you like. Miyoko’s gets great reviews!
These were easy and delicious, we added some extra sugar, vanilla, pecans, next time we’ll roll them a little thicker, add lime zest, a little shredded coconut and macadamia nut chips! Thank you for this
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Chris!
These are so delicious and EASY! I found the dough lovely to work with. I also rolled them a little thinner and they took about 15 minutes to bake (Took the advice from an earlier comment – check after 15 minutes).
I added a 1/4 teaspoon of ground cardamom seeds and a teaspoon of orange zest. They were a hit. Thank you!
Awesome Sam, thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
I am a short bread freak and after becoming vegan I long for those buttery morsels. These may be the best cookies I have ever made! Unbelievably delicious and super simple as you said. I used unsweetened Silk almond milk and Country Crock plant butter with olive oil. The recipe was perfect, no problems. I am accustomed to rubbing in the butter with my fingers when making piecrust so that was easy for me. Thank you Alison!
Thanks so much Anita! So happy to hear that!
Anita did you use regular sugar in this recipe?
I had to double the liquid, the amount of margarine didn’t allow for merging into a ball. Then I was able to roll them, once a ball was formed. I added vanilla and they turned out ok.