Easy 5 ingredient recipe for vegan Scottish-style shortbread biscuits.
We’re edging closer to Christmas and now it’s November, I think it’s about time to let the festive baking truly begin. My first one of which I shared last week with these Orange Chocolate Orange Chip Cookies. As well as my previous recipe and this one I’m sharing with you today, over the weekend I photographed another Christmas recipe too. I’m on a roll with my festive creations for the blog and can’t wait to bake more!
One bake we indulge with over the festive season is shortbread. My shortbread recipes are greatly popular, with this Scottish Shortbread being one of the most viewed recipes ever and many of you have made this recipe and enjoyed it.
These shortbread biscuits have a delicate vanilla flavour and are crisp, crumbly and will just melt in your mouth. I used this Shortbread Biscuits recipe and swapped the butter for vegan baking block and upped the amount of sugar in the recipe slightly.
I use vanilla sugar and find that really enhances the flavour in this shortbread dough. You could also add some grated lemon, lime or orange zest. If you don’t have vanilla sugar, then add the seeds from a vanilla pod to your shortbread dough.
The shortbread dough is easy and speedy to make. Take softened vegan baking block and cream together with the caster sugar until fluffy. Now add the sifted flours (this recipe uses a mix of plain and self-raising flour, but using just plain flour is fine). Mix until a crumbly dough has formed and then wrap the dough up in clingfilm and chill it for a recommended 15 minutes.
Chilling the shortbread dough makes it easier when rolling the dough out and ensures that the biscuits will hold their shape during baking.
I sprinkle my shortbread biscuits with sugar before baking and little extra sugar after they’ve baked. But a light dusting of icing sugar also looks and tastes great too!
Once baked, decoration is optional, I add another sprinkling of caster sugar to the tops of my shortbread biscuits. You could dip or drizzle the biscuits with melted chocolate also.
Beautiful, sweet and crumbly shortbread biscuits. Skip buying tins of readymade shortbread this Christmas and make your own instead!
Vegan Shortbread
Ingredients
- 200 g vegan baking block softened
- 100 g caster sugar (I use vanilla sugar)
- 150 g plain flour
- 150 g self-raising flour
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Decoration:
Instructions
- Line two large baking trays with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside. Preheat oven to 160°C / 140°C Fan / 325°F / Gas Mark 3. Cream the softened vegan baking block and the sugar until light and pale in colour (about 1-2 minutes).
- Now sift the flours and add to the creamed baking block and sugar mixture along with the vanilla extract. Continue to mix until a crumbly and soft ball of dough comes together. Don’t overwork the dough, try to touch it as little as possible. At this point you can wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill it for 15 minutes, however this is an optional step - it does make rolling the dough out easier.
- On a lightly floured surface roll the dough out to about 1/2 cm thickness. Using your favourite biscuit/cookie cutters, cut out shapes from the dough and transfer to the lined baking trays. Sprinkle the top of each biscuit with a little extra sugar or you can dust each baked biscuit with icing sugar after baking if you prefer.
- Bake the biscuits for 15-20 minutes until they’re crisp and slightly golden around the edges - all ovens are different so they may need baking for longer. I like adding a little extra sugar to the tops at this point.
- Once baked, leave to cool on the baking trays for 5-10 minutes, then carefully transport to a wire rack and allow the biscuits to cool completely to room temperature.
- Shortbread will keep in an airtight container for up to one week.
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Hmm, I’ve never heard of vegan baking block (not a committed vegan, just mostly vegetarian). I see “cultured vegan butter” in my market, would that work?
Hi – I’ve just looked up cultured vegan butter as I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of it before. I think it would be absolutely fine to use to make this shortbread recipe. 🙂
Thanks!